The Princess of Shadows goes to Hogwarts
by Arielladaughterofdeath
Summary: Ariella has been sent to protect Harry Potter during his 3rd/4th year at Hogwarts, though unexpected friendships will occur, Harry potter's 3rd year will be an unusual one. Sequel to The daughter of Thanatos, and princess of shadows.
1. Chapter 1

Ariella's POV

I will be going to Hogwarts tomorrow. I had gotten all of my school supplies early so that I would be able to study and try to catch up with the rest of the 3rd years. I got my school robes modified so that my wings would fit, and my cloak is long enough to cover my wings in case of a strong breeze.

I need to get my wand today so I am going to Ollivander's. When I walked into the shop there were boxes of wands everywhere.

"Hello?" I call out

"Are you here for a wand? Right this way!" Ollivander tells me

"Here try this one, 8 1/2 inches holly with dragon string, good for charms. Just wave it." he says

I wave it and nothing happens.

"Oh no, not that one. Here try this one. 7 inches cedar wood phoenix feather, not to bendy. " he hands another wand to me.

"Hmm, no not that one either, I suppose. Try this, 9 inches Oak wood, unicorn hair, stiff." handing me yet another wand to me.

"No no, not any good either, perhaps 8 1/2 inches ash wood, and a hair of a grim, good for spells." he hands me a black wand.

I wave it and all the shadows in the store start moving.

"Hmm, yes that does look like it fits for you, interesting choice. Interesting indeed." He mutters to himself

"Why is it interesting?" I ask him

"Hmm, oh because a hair of a grim would usually be used for the dark arts. I hadn't thought I would ever sell this wand but the wand picks the witch or wizard. Anyways that will be 5 galleons please." He answers

I hand him the money and leave the shop with my new wand. I go back to the Leaky Cauldron and pack up my stuff so that I can get to King's Cross early tomorrow morning.

-The next morning-

I get dressed in a black shirt, black jeans, my black combat boots, and my black cloak to hide my wings. I braid my long black hair to keep it out of my way. The I put on my black rose necklace and some makeup. When I'm ready I call a taxi to take me to King's cross the next morning at 9 a.m, when I get there I pay the taxi and get out. I find platforms 9 and 10, but I can't find 9 3/4. I see a very pale boy with bleach blond hair talking to his father.

"You need to be more careful this year, Draco. He is will return, so you need to watch what you say about him." his father tells him

"Excuse me, can you tell me where platform 9 3/4 is? I'm a transfer student and no one told me how to get to platform 9 3/4." I explain

"I'm going there now so you can just follow me, I'm Draco Malfoy." Draco tells me

"Thanks, I'm Ariella Thana." I tell him.

I follow him to the brick wall separating plat form 9 and 10.

"The wall is a barrier so that no muggles accidentally come into platform 9 3/4." He explains.

"Oh. So we just walk through the barrier?" I ask him

"yes"

We passed through the barrier and I saw I giant red train with the words 'Hogwarts Express' written across the side. Draco and I parted ways and I went to find an empty booth, the only one I could find had a new teacher I it, but he was asleep so it wouldn't bother him. I started to read one of my books Hogwarts, A History while I waited until 11 when the train would leave.

I had been reading for about an hour and a half when 3 people came in and asked if they could share the booth with me. The girl was tall with brown puffy hair, one of the boys had flaming red hair, and the other boy had brown hair, blue eyes and a lightning shaped scar on his forehead.

"I'm Ariella Thana." I introduced myself

"I'm Hermione Granger." said the girl with puffy hair.

"Ron Weasley." the boy with flaming red hair said.

"Harry Potter." The boy with the scar said

"Nice to meet you all." I said and looked back down to my book.

"Wait you don't know who Harry is?" Hermione asked

"Should I?" I ask

"He's the-boy-who-lived! You know the one who defeated You-Know-Who when he was just a baby?" Ron exclaimed.

I gave them all a blank look.

Hermione gave me a quick recap of what had happened to Harry in the past.

"I had help!" He insited

"But even with help you still had to face some of that yourself." I said

"So are you a new student?" Harry asked changing the subject.

"Oh, yes I'm an American transfer student." I tell them.

"What school are you transferring from?" Ron asks

"Oh, um, I'm transferring from the Salem school for witches and wizards." I tell them, hoping they don't know much bout American history.

"Oh, cool." Ron replies.

Later 2 other students come and sit in the compartment, a girl Luna Lovegood. She started talking to Harry, Ron and Hermione, while I sit and continue reading my book.

"Well, look who it is," said Draco, opening the compartment door. "Potty and Weasel."

The 2 boys beside him chuckled.

"I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley," said Draco. "Did your mother die of shock?"

"That's not very nice to day Draco" I say as Ron stands up so quickly he knows Hermione's cat basket to the floor.

"Ariella," he says sounding surprised. "What are you doing with these 3?" He asks me.

"They asked to sit in the compartment, so I let them." I tell him.

"You shouldn't be around them, no one will respect you if you continue to hang around the mudblood and Potter and Weasley." Draco says, as Harry holds Ron back with fury in his eyes.

"Well you shouldn't say such things if you ever want people to be kind to you." I say as I turn away. Draco leaves with a look of surprise still on his face.

"What's a mudblood?" I ask

"A mudblood is what purebloods call muggle born witches and wizards, saying that their blood is dirty. There are purebloods, half bloods, and muggle born." Harry explained to me

"Half blood?" Fear shot through me, how did they know.

"Yeah, a parent is a wizard or witch and the other is a muggle. What are you? Half blood, pureblood, or muggle born?" Ron asks

"I'm a half blood." I say.

"How do you know Malfoy?" Hermione asked

"He showed me how to get to platform 8 3/4 this morning." I explained.

Suddenly the train stops. And I melt into the shadows as everyone starts getting up.

"We must be nearly there," said Ron, leaning forward to look past Professor Lupin at the now completely black window.  
The words had hardly left him when the train started to slow down.  
"Great," said Ron, getting up and walking carefully past Professor Lupin to try and see outside. "I'm starving. I want to get to the feast...  
"We can't be there yet," said Hermione, checking her watch.  
"So why're we stopping?"  
The train was getting slower and slower. As the noise of the pistons fell away, the wind and rain sounded louder than ever against the windows.  
Harry, who was nearest the door, got up to look into the corridor. All along the carriage, heads were sticking curiously out of their compartments.  
The train came to a stop with a jolt, and distant thuds and bangs told them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then, without warning, all the lamps went out and they were plunged into total darkness.  
"'What's going on?" said Ron's voice from behind Harry.  
"Ouch!" gasped Hermione. "Ron, that was my foot!"  
Harry felt his way back to his seat.  
"D'you think we've broken down?"  
"Dunno..."  
There was a squeaking sound, and Harry saw the dim black outline of Ron, wiping a patch clean on the window and peering out.  
"There's something moving out there," Ron said. "I think people are coming aboard..."  
The compartment door suddenly opened and someone fell painfully over Harry's legs.  
"Sorry - d'you know what's going on? - Ouch - sorry  
"Hullo, Neville," said Harry, feeling around in the dark and pulling Neville up by his cloak.  
"Harry? Is that you? What's happening?"  
"No idea - sit down -"  
There was a loud hissing and a yelp of pain; Neville had tried to sit on Crookshanks.  
"I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on," came Hermione's voice. Harry felt her pass him, heard the door slide open again, and then a thud and two loud squeals of pain.  
"Who's that?"  
"Who's that?"  
"Ginny?"  
"Hermione?"  
"What are you doing?"  
"I was looking for Ron -" "Come in and sit down -"  
"Not here!" said Harry hurriedly. "I'm here!"  
"Ouch!" said Neville.  
"Quiet!" said a hoarse voice suddenly.  
Professor Lupin appeared to have woken up at last. Harry could hear movements in his corner.  
None of them spoke.  
There was a soft, crackling noise, and a shivering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames. They illuminated his tired, gray face, but his eyes looked alert and wary.  
"Stay where you are," he said in the same hoarse voice, and he got slowly to his feet with his handful of fire held out in front of him.  
But the door slid slowly open before Lupin could reach it.  
Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the shivering flames in Lupin's hand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water...  
But it was visible only for a split second. As though the creature beneath the cloak sensed Ariella's gaze, the hand was suddenly withdrawn into the folds of its black cloak.  
And then the thing beneath the hood, whatever it was, drew a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it were trying to suck something more than air from its surroundings.

"What are you doing here?" I ask the creature that looks like on of my father's wraiths.

It didn't answer but, an intense cold swept over them all.

"Harry! Harry! Are you all right?"  
Someone was slapping his face.  
"W - what?"  
Ron and Hermione heaved him back onto his seat.  
"Are you okay?" Ron asked nervously.  
"Yeah," said Harry, looking quickly toward the door. The hooded creature had vanished. "What happened? Where's that - that thing? Who screamed?"  
"No one screamed," said Ron, more nervously still.  
"But I heard screaming -"  
A loud snap made them all jump. Professor Lupin was breaking an enormous slab of chocolate into pieces.  
"Here," he said to Harry, handing him a particularly large piece. "Eat it. It'll help."  
Harry took the chocolate but didn't eat it.  
"What was that thing?" he asked Lupin.  
"A dementor," said Lupin, who was now giving chocolate to everyone else. "One of the dementors of Azkaban."  
Everyone stared at him. Professor Lupin crumpled up the empty chocolate wrapper and put it in his pocket.  
"Eat," he repeated. "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me...  
He strolled past Harry and disappeared into the corridor.

I followed the professor, I wanted to know why these dementors where here.

I walked to a group of dementors and asked again "Why are you here?"

One answered in a dry rasping tone "we have been sent to find Black. He escaped us."

"Do not interfere with the students again do you understand?" I command

"Yes." They said in the same rasping tone.

I returned to my compartment, got my school robes and went to change, so that no one would see my wings.

When I got back everyone else had already changed and waiting, sice there was only 15 minutes left.

-15 minutes later-

I had just gotten off the train when this huge man comes up and told me to go in the boats with the first years. After crossing the lake and entering the school, I see a hat on a stool and it starts to sing.

"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!" It sang.

Students started being called up to be sorted until it was my turn.

"Thana, Ariella!" My name is called

The hat is placed on my head and it starts to talk to me.

 _Hmm, a demigod? Interesting, and a daughter of thanatos. Well that explains your last name I guess. But let's get in with the sorting shall we._

Why are you in my head.

 _Let's take a look at your memories. Oh you joined Kronos to try to stop him? Interesting. But that didn't work did it. Hmm control over shadows, that's considered a dark art. Hmm how about_ _ **SLYTHERIN**_ _!_

I hear clapping and I walk over to the Slytherin table. I sit at the end of the table near the shadows.

After the feast and Headmaster Dumbledore's speech, I follow Draco and the rest of the Slytherins to the dorm. The prefect was showing the first year and I to our dorm rooms.

"Ariella, under special circumstances the Headmaster assigned you your own dorm, so you won't be sharing with anyone else."

"Why does she get her own room?" Someone asked, as everyone turned to look at me.

"I don't know anything other than that she gets her own room. And that the Headmaster would like to speak with her this week." The prefect answered

"Do you know why?" Draco asked me

"Yes"

"Are you going to tell us why?" He asks

"Not until I know that I can trust all of you. Until then, no I won't tell you." I say as I enter the room and close the door.

The room is big, it has a connected bathroom so that no one finds out. The walls and bed are black with silver and green accents. There is a dresser, bookshelf and table with chairs with the same dark wood. I get ready for bed and stretching out my wings and then crawling into bed for the night.


	2. Chapter 2

**So this is the squeal to The daughter of thanatos and princess of shadows story. I hope you like it and please review! I want to know what you think of my writing!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry potter, only my OC.**

Ariella's POV

I woke up the next morning at 6:45, 15 minutes. Before breakfast started. I brushed my teeth, took a shower and got dressed in my robes, and put on my cloak to hide my wings. I went down to the Great hall to start breakfast early do that I could get my schedule early and then explore the school.

When I got to the great Hall my schedule was already at my seat. I had:

Monday:

Potions  
D.A.D.A

Study of Ancient runes  
Study of Ancient runes  
Transfigurations

Tuesday

Study of Ancient runes  
Potions  
Astronomy

Wendsday

History of magic  
Herbology

Thursday  
Study of Ancient runes  
Transfiguration  
Potions  
D.A.D.A  
Free

Friday  
Potions  
Charms  
Study of Ancient runes  
D.A.D.A

I had defense against the dark arts and potions with the Gryffindors. I finish eating and start exploring the castle trying to find my classes. I find all if my classes by 8:15 so I just go to my first hour class and start reading my potions textbook. I get lost in my book u til the bell rings and I walk into the dungeons where the potions class is.

I snicker when I realize the board says that we are making the draught of living death today. I get out all my materials needed and start making my potion. By the time the rest if the class got here, I was finishing the first step.

"Ms. Thana what do you think you are doing?" Professor Snape demands.

"I got here when the bell rang, so I started on the potion that was listed on the board, professor." I explain.

"10 points to Slytherins for starting early." He says as he walks away.

At the end of the class my potion was one of the only ones that had silver mist coming off the top. I poured my potion into a vial and set it on the front table.

My next class is defense against the dark arts.

"Good afternoon," he said. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today's will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."  
A few curious looks were exchanged as the class put away their books.  
"Right then," said Professor Lupin, when everyone was ready. "If you'd follow me."  
Puzzled but interested, the class got to its feet and followed Professor Lupin out of the classroom. He led them along the deserted corridor and around a corner, where the first thing they saw was Peeves the Poltergeist, who was floating upside down in midair and stuffing the nearest keyhole with chewing gum.  
Peeves didn't look up until Professor Lupin was two feet away; ,hen he wiggled his curly-toed feet and broke into song.  
"Loony, loopy Lupin," Peeves sang. "Loony, loopy Lupin, loony, loopy Lupin -"  
Rude and unmanageable as he almost always was, Peeves usually showed some respect toward the teachers. Everyone looked quickly at Professor Lupin to see how he would take this; to their surprise, he was still smiling.  
"I'd take that gum out of the keyhole if I were you, Peeves," he said pleasantly. "Mr. Filch won't be able to get in to his brooms."  
Filch was the Hogwarts caretaker, a bad-tempered, failed wizard who waged a constant war against the students and, indeed, Peeves. However, Peeves paid no attention to Professor Lupin's words, except to blow a loud wet raspberry.  
Professor Lupin gave a small sigh and took out his wand.  
"This is a useful little spell, he told the class over his shoulder. "Please watch closely."  
He raised the wand to shoulder height, said, "Waddiwasi! "and pointed it at Peeves.  
With the force of a bullet, the wad of chewing gum shot out of the keyhole and straight down Peeves's left nostril; he whirled upright and zoomed away, cursing.  
"Cool, sir!" said Dean Thomas in amazement.  
"Thank you, Dean," said Professor Lupin, putting his wand away again. "Shall we proceed?"  
They set off again, the class looking at shabby Professor Lupin with increased respect. He led them down a second corridor and stopped, right outside the staffroom door.  
"Inside, please," said Professor Lupin, opening it and standing back.  
The staffroom, a long, paneled room full of old, mismatched chairs, was empty except for one teacher. Professor Snape was sitting in a low armchair, and he looked around as the class filed in. His eyes were glittering and there was a nasty sneer playing around his mouth. As Professor Lupin came in and made to close the door behind him, Snape said, "Leave it open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this."  
He got to his feet and strode past the class, his black robes billowing behind him. At the doorway he turned on his heel and said, "Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear."  
Neville went scarlet.  
Professor Lupin had raised his eyebrows.  
"I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation," he said, "and I am sure he will perform it admirably."  
Neville's face went, if possible, even redder. Snape's lip curled, but he left, shutting the door with a snap.  
"Now, then," said Professor Lupin, beckoning the class toward the end of the room, where there was nothing but an old wardrobe where the teachers kept their spare robes. As Professor Lupin went to stand next to it, the wardrobe gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall.  
"Nothing to worry about," said Professor Lupin calmly because a few people had jumped backward in alarm. "There's a boggart in there."  
Most people seemed to feel that this was something to worry about. Neville gave Professor Lupin a look of pure terror, and Seamus Finnigan eyed the now rattling doorknob apprehensively.  
"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," said Professor Lupin. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks - I've even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third years some practice.  
"So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a boggart?"  
Hermione put up her hand.  
"It's a shape-shifter," she said. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."  
"Couldn't have put it better myself," said Professor Lupin, and Hermione glowed. "So the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears.  
"This means," said Professor Lupin, choosing to ignore Neville's 'mall sputter of terror, "that we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"  
Trying to answer a question with Hermione next to him, bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet with her hand in the air, was very off-putting, but Harry had a go.  
"Er - because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?"  
"Precisely," said Professor Lupin, and Hermione put her hand down, looking a little disappointed. "It's always best to have com pany when you're dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a boggart make that very mistake - tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening.  
"The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing.  
"We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please ... Riddikulus!"  
"Riddikulus!" said the class together.  
"Good," said Professor Lupin. "Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in, Neville."  
The wardrobe shook again, though not as much as Neville, who walked forward as though he were heading for the gallows.  
"Right, Neville," said Professor Lupin. "First things first: what would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?"  
Neville's lips moved, but no noise came out.  
"didn't catch that, Neville, sorry," said Professor Lupin cheerfully.  
Neville looked around rather wildly, as though begging someone to help him, then said, in barely more than a whisper, "Professor Snape."  
Nearly everyone laughed. Even Neville grinned apologetically. Professor Lupin, however, looked thoughtful.

"Professor Snape... hmmm... Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?"  
"Er - yes," said Neville nervously. "But - I don't want the boggart to turn into her either."  
"No, no, you misunderstand me," said Professor Lupin, now smiling. "I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"  
Neville looked startled, but said, "Well... always the same hat. A tall one with a stuffed vulture on top. And a long dress... green, normally... and sometimes a fox-fur scarf."  
"And a handbag?" prompted Professor Lupin.  
"A big red one," said Neville.  
"Right then," said Professor Lupin. "Can you picture those clothes very clearly, Neville? Can you see them in your mind's eye?"  
"Yes," said Neville uncertainty, plainly wondering what was coming next.

"When the boggart bursts out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees You, it will assume the form of Professor Snape," said Lupin. "And You will raise your wand - thus - and cry 'Riddikulus' - and concentrate hard on your grandmother's clothes. If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced into that vulture-topped hat, and that green dress, with that big red handbag."

The wardrobe opened and boggart snspe walked out. Neville's turned white with fear and quietly stuttered" Riddikulus!"

Then the boggart snape was wearing a green dress, vulture hat, and s bright red handbag. Everyone in the class started to laugh. Next was Ron who's fear was spiders. He made his spider dance. After him was Harry, Ron's spider changed and became a dementor. All the student in the class scrambled back.

"You're afraid of fear itself, Harry?" Professor lupin asked

"Yes." He answered.

And then I was my turn.

No one's POV

Ariella stepped in front of the boggart, and the shadows in the room started swirling around like a storm. The boggart became Ariella, but different. She had on black full body armor, with black armoured boots. She was holding a black sword, had black wings folded on her back and her eyes were completely black.

"You should have destroyed them, Ariella. They have mistreated their children for to long. You shouldn't have held back!" The boggart Ariella said.

"I h-held back because I couldn't control all of them. I could have destroyed the entire city!" She whispers

"You joined the enemy, you were supposed to destroy the city!" The boggart yells

"He forced me to! He knew I didn't have enough control, i could have killed everyone!" She shouted back.

By this time everyone had slowly backed away from her in fear. They didn't know what power she had, but they could tell that she was powerful.

"You know that they'll never let you come back. You'll never be able to go home." The boggart says.

"No, I'll serve my punishment, but they have to let me come back." She whispers as she stumbles back.

"They will never accept you. They'll only fear you, like all the others." The boggart tells her.

Ariella runs from the room in response. The boggart smiles coldly at those in the room and then disappears as professor lupin locks it in the closet again.

"Class dismissed." He says wearily.

No one saw Ariella for the rest of the day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, I only own my own character!**

Ariella's POV

After the boggart incident I stopped talking to everyone. I didn't want to see the fear in their eyes, like how the campers at Camp half blood used to look at me. The others in the Slytherin house no longer commented on how I have my own room, they didn't even acknowledge that I was there, which was fine with me. Early in the school year I found a room that some called the Room of Requirement. So everyday after dinner I would go to the room of requirement and practice with my shadows. I was getting better at losing my physical body and then being able to regain it without any light and I slowly learned how to call more shadows to me without losing control. I didn't want to become what the boggart showed me. I couldn't. I also used the Room of requirement so that I could learn to use my shadows as weapons as I was flying.

Before I knew it, it was October 31st. The first time that 3rd years could go to Hogsmeade, I didn't have a form signed so I couldn't go. So I wandered around the castle all day after I finished my homework. That night after dinner, I was on my way back to the Slytherin dorms when I was stopped my one of the teachers. I was told to go to the Headmaster's office. When I got there, I said lemon drop and the door opened. I walked into Headmaster Dumbledore's office and waited for him to arrive.

"Ah good, you're here already. Please sit down if you would." He said as he entered his office.

"What did you need me for?" I asked

"Sirius Black got into the school and shredded that Fat Lady's portrait and after the incident with the boggart some students are saying that you must have let him in. I need to know where you were today." He explains

"Why would they blame me? I haven't spoken to anyone in weeks!" I ask

"They are blaming you because of what happened with the boggart, I know that you won't have, you are only here to protect Harry, but they don't know that. So I still need to know where you were." He explains

"I was doing my homework, then I wandered around the castle for a while, after that I went to dinner and headed back to my room, when a teacher stopped me and said that I was needed in the Headmaster's office." I explain

"Thank you. I will make sure to inform the other teachers the other teachers that you had nothing to with the attack." he said.

"How much longer to I have to keep hiding?" I blurt out suddenly.

"Hide what?" He asks, confused

"That I'm a demigod and that I have wings. The only time I get to use my wings is in the Room of Requirement or in my room at night. So how much longer do I have to keep hiding?" I demand

"You can reveal your identity when you feel that it is the right time. You are dismissed." He says

I leave his office and head back down to my room.

The next day I wore black jeans, a black shirt and black boots because I was going to a quidditch game, because Harry was playing, and Professor Dumbledore reminded me yesterday that I was supposed to be protecting him. The game was between the Hufflepuffs and the Gryffindors. It is pouring rain today, so the game hasn't been doing well for either side, but especially for Harry since he has glasses. Oliver, the captain of the Gryffingors called for a time out for a few minutes.

"Harry!" came Wood's anguished yell from the Gryffindor goal posts. "Harry, behind you!"

Harry looked wildly around. Cedric Diggory was pelting up the field, and a tiny speck of gold was shimmering in the rain-filled air between the two.

"Come on!" he growled at his Nimbus as the rain whipped his face.

But something odd was happening. An eerie silence was falling across the stadium.

And suddenly I saw a large group of dementors enter the stadium, Harry saw them and started to slip off his broom. I sprinted toward the edge of the stands and threw off my cloak that covers my wings, and leaped over the rail. I took flight and sped toward the dementors and Harry. I heard screaming behind me but I didn't care as I pressed the center of my black rose necklace to unfold my armor, complete with my helmet so that I could see.

"Shadows, come to me! Protect Harry from the dementors!" I yell out. A protective dome made of my shadows surround Harry as he lay on the ground.

I land in front of the dementors and draw my sword. I call more shadows to me, my eyes turning completely black.

"Shadows, bind the dementors and keep them away from Harry!" I command my shadows, they chain the dementors together and keep him a safe distance from Harry.

I hear people rushing towards Harry as he lays on the ground. I fold my wings and walk toward them. I wave my hand and dismiss the shadows protecting Harry.

They rush him to the hospital wing and I follow after them, ignoring the growing whispers that I leave behind me.

Harry's POV

"Lucky the ground was so soft."

"I thought he was dead for sure."

"But he didn't even break his glasses."

Harry could hear the voices whispering, but they made no sense whatsoever. He didn't have a clue where he was, or how he'd got there, or what he'd been doing before he got there. All he knew was that every inch of him was aching as though it had been beaten.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life."

"And then that girl jumped out of the stands! And then she somehow got armor and wings, and surround Harry with dark magic!"

Scariest... the scariest thing... hooded black figures... cold ... screaming...

Harry's eyes snapped open. He was lying in the hospital wing. The Gryffindor Quidditch team, spattered with mud from head to foot, was gathered around his bed. Ron and Hermione were also there, looking as though they'd just climbed out of a swimming pool.

"Harry!" said Fred, who looked extremely white underneath, the mud. "How're you feeling?"

It was as though Harry's memory was on fast forward. The lightning - the Snitch - and the dementors...

"What happened?" he said, sitting up so suddenly they all gasped.

"You fell off," said Fred. "Must've been - what - fifty feet?"

"We thought you'd died," said Alicia, who was shaking.

Hermione made a small, squeaky noise. Her eyes were extremely bloodshot.

"But the match," said Harry. "What happened? Are we doing a replay?"

No one said anything. The horrible truth sank into Harry like a stone.

"We didn't - lose?"

"Diggory got the Snitch," said George. "Just after you fell. He didn't realize what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch. But they won fair and square... even Wood admits it."

"Where is Wood?" said Harry, suddenly realizing he wasn't there.

"Still in the showers," said Fred. "We think he's trying to drown himself."

Harry put his face to his knees, his hands gripping his hair. Fred grabbed his shoulder and shook it roughly.

"C'mon, Harry, you've never missed the Snitch before."

"There had to be one time you didn't get it," said George.

"It's not over yet," said Fred. "We lost by a hundred points"

"Right? So if Hufflepuff loses to Ravenclaw and we beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin -."

"Hufflepuff'll have to lose by at least two hundred points," said George.

"But if they beat Ravenclaw..."

"No Way, Ravenclaw is too good. But if Slytherin loses against Hufflepuff..."

"It all depends on the points - a margin of a hundred either way."

Harry lay there, not saying a word. They had lost... for the first time ever, he had lost a Quidditch match.

After ten minutes or so, Madam Pomfrey came over to tell the team to leave him in peace.

"We'll come and see you later," Fred told him. "Don't beat yourself up, Harry, you're still the best Seeker we've ever had."

The team trooped out, trailing mud behind them. Madam Pomfrey shut the door behind them, looking disapproving. Ron and Hermione moved nearer to Harry's bed.

"Dumbledore was really angry," Hermione said in a quaking voice. "I've never seen him like that before. He ran onto the field as you fell, but then a figure in armor and wings chained the dementors and put a bubble of dark magic around you and you sort of slowed down before you hit the ground. Then Dumbledore whirled his wand at the dementors. Shot silver stuff at them. They left the stadium right away... He was furious they'd come onto the grounds. We heard him -"

"Then he magicked you onto a stretcher," said Ron. "And walked up to school with you floating on it. Everyone thought you were -"

His voice faded, but Harry hardly noticed. He was thinking about what the dementors had done to him... about the screaming voice. He looked up and saw Ron and Hermione lookin, at him so anxiously that he quickly cast around for something matter-of-fact to say. Then he noticed the dark figure in the back of the room watching him.

"Who is that?" I asked nodding towards the figure in armor.

"No one knows, some say its the girl who jumped out of the stands after you fell. Others think not, because the girl who jumped didn't have wings." Hermione explained.

"Wings?" I asked.

"Yes, she flew to your and used dark magic to protect you from the dementors."

"I will reveal myself at dinner tonight." The figure says and walks out of the room.

Ariella's POV

I walk out of the hospital wing and down the hall. I still have all of my armor and helmet on because I don't want anyone to know who I am. I walk to the Headmaster's office and knock say 'lemon drop', the door opens and I walk in. I wait for a few minutes before entering Professor Dumbledore's office.

"Oh hello," He says

"I told the students that I am going to reveal my identity tonight at dinner. I thought it would be a good idea in case anything weird happens tonight at dinner." I tell him.

"And how are you you going to explain your wings?" he askes

"I'm going to tell them everything, including the what happened in the war and why I am here." I tell him

"Hmm, tonight will be interesting indeed." he says.

I walk out of his office and towards the Room of Requirement. Some of the students in the hall scrambled to get out of my way as I marched down the hall, my armored boots clicking with each step.

When I get to the Room of Requirement, I start training with some gymnastics, since I haven't practiced in a while.

By the time I finished my training, I realized that dinner had already started. I walked to the Great Hall and decided to make an entrance since I was already late.

I spread my wings and became my shadow form and I walked straight through the door. As soon as I did multiply students screamed. I walked up to the Professors' table and resumed my solid form and turned to look at the students in the hall.

"I told some of you that I would reveal to you who I am tonight and I will, but first you need some background information. The Greek Gods are real." I shout to be heard.

"Impossible!" I hear being said by many students and professors.

"The gods are real. I am a child of one of the gods."

"You still haven't told us who you are!" Someone shouted.

"I'm sure most of you will recognize me. If not just remember the first day of school." I tell the shadows to start swirling around the room like a storm, my eyes turn black, and I tap my necklace so that my helmet will refold, then I draw my sword. Professor Lupin and all the students in his class gasp.

"My name is Ariella, I'm the only demigod daughter of Thanatos and I am here to serve out my punishment." I call out to the silent room

"What did you do to deserve this punishment?" Harry asked

"I joined with that Titan King Kronos, the Lord of Time, in his war with the gods. He wanted to tear down Olympus and to kill the gods." I explain.

"Why would you join with Kronos if you are a demigod?" Hermione demands

"I joined his army so that I could spy for the gods. It did not work, once he found out how much power I had he made sure I was at his side until he tore down Olympus." I say.

"And how much power do you have then?" Draco askes

"Enough that I became the backup plan. Kronos made sure that if the demigods found a way to stop him Olympus would still be destroyed, by me. It took the light of 3 gods' true from to stop my shadows and that was when I was trying to hold them all back." I explain

"How many shadows did you call. Why couldn't you control that much?" Dumbledore demanded.

"I called all of the shadows in Manhattan to me and Kronos's knew I couldn't control that many yet. If the gods hadn't stopped me, I would have destroyed Olympus and part of Manhattan, even at the height we were at." I explain, I hear many backing away from me.

"This," I have my hand around the room, "this is child's play, I've been training ever since talking to the boggart. I've made sure that I won't lose control again."

"And if you lose control again, how can we stop you?" Demanded professor Snape

"Direct beams if light, a lot of them and any spells that can also work on dementors might work on me." I tell him

"Well if anyone needs me, I'll be in the forbidden forest until dawn." I tell everyone.

"Students who are out past curfew get detention." Snape says

"Wow, wizards are way nicer than at camp half blood. If you're out past curfew you run the risk of being eaten by the harpies patrolling at night." I smile at the looks of horror on everyone's face as I walk out of the room.

"Oh and if some of you see me fall from the sky, don't worry unless you see me fall in the lake." I call out to the students.

 **Hope you like it, please Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Harry Potter.**

 **Also the Percy Jackson part will come later in the story.**

-Gryffindor Common Room-

No one's POV

After Ariella had revealed who she was to everyone, dinner concluded and everyone went back to there house dorms. Some where standing at the windows, watching as Ariella gathered the shadows and gave them form. Her shadows now looked exactly like her armor, they looked terrifying. They were an exact copy of her armor, expect without wings. They had the same black armor, black faceless helmet, armored gloves and boots, and holding a black sword. And she had created about 100 of them, standing in perfect formation before her. She gave a command and they all rushed towards her to attack.

She ran to meet them and the clang of metal could be heard even in the common room. She blocked every swing and thrust and slowly disarmed the shadow warriors. She stepped back and let them attack her 3 more times before she stopped and went back into the castle for the night.

Ariella's POV

The next morning I didn't even bother putting on the school robes, because everyone already knew who and what I was so I wasn't going to hide any more. So I put on my normal all black t-shirt, jeans and combat boots, with my black rose necklace. I braided my hair as I walked out of my room towards the Great hall for breakfast.

"Ariella," someone calls out behind me. I turned to see Draco standing with his friends.

"Yes?" I ask

"Is that the reason why you have your own room?" I asks pointing at my wings

"Yes, I was not supposed to tell anyone unless I had to." I answer

"Oh. What did you mean when you said that you would serve your punishment, when you were talking to the boggart on the first day of school?" He asks

"I failed to protect the campers when I almost destroyed Olympus, so I have to protect someone else now, that's why I'm here." I tell him.

"Who were you sent to protect?" He asks

"Harry Potter" I say as I walk into the great hall.

-Later in class-

I walk into the Potions room and all goes quiet. I quickly take a seat in the back of the room but Professor Snape is still glaring at me.

"If you are going to be attending this school you should act like a normal student, which means that you should also dress like a normal student." He says rudely.

"Well, then since I'm not a normal student, I can do whatever, right?" I ask smirking at him.

"You must still abide by the rules!" he exclaimes

"Okay, sure I'll abide by the rules. Except for the dress code and doors." I say

"Doors?" Harry asks

"Who said I have to open the door when I have the power to go right though the door?" I ask, watching as other students try to come up with an answer.

"Today you will be making a shrinking potion. The directions are on the board, get started you have already wasted enough time." Professor Snape says with one last glare at me before he turns away.

-Ten minutes Later-

"Mr. Longbottom, do these daisy stems look finely chopped to you?" Professor Snape demands.

"N-no, s-sir." Neville says quietly.

"Chop them again, more finely." He orders

"When your shrinking potion is done pore it into a phial and put it on my desk with your name on it. The homework is an essay on the correct ways on making a shrinking potion, 12 inches long." He orders everyone.

When class finally ended I poured my shrinking potion into a phial and set it on his desk. Then I became by shadow form for a few seconds and walked through the door. I then went to my favorite class, Defense against the dark arts.

"Ariella, will you come here for a moment?" Professor Lupin asks when I walked into the classroom.

"Yes?" I ask as I walk over to him

"I was wondering, if you could perhaps say in your shadow form for the class period, since we are studying ghosts today?" He asks.

"So I'm supposed to be the ghost today?" I ask curious.

"No, I'm asking that you same in your shadow form so that the students can list the difference between you and a regular ghost." He explains.

"Ah, will I have to do the homework for this?" I ask

"No," he chuckles. "you will be excused from today's homework."

"Okay, I'll do it. What to I have to do?" I ask

"I just need you to maybe walk though a few desks and try to pick something up. I'll have peeves and sir Nickolas in here as well." Professor lupin explains.

"Really, that's it? Okay!" I exclaim.

I go and sit back in my seat until the start of class.

"Attention class, today we will be learning about ghosts. Ariella, if you could, please?" He asks me.

The class turns to look at me, I nod and turn into my shadow form. I stand up and walk through the desks until I stand next to Lupin.

"We will be studying the differences between how Ariella is and how a ghost is. Sir Nickolas, Peeves, Ariella please try to pick something up. Class start taking notes." He says.

I pick up one of the books off Professor Lupin desk while Peeves picks up a quill and throws it a me. I smirk at his pouting when he sees that it went right through me. So peeves picks up another quill and this time throws it at Nick. Peeves frowns when it hits Nick.

"And this is one difference between Ariella and ghosts." professor Lupin announces.

"Ariella, Peeves, Nick if you could please try to pass though something?" lupin asks us.

I walk over to Peeves, grab both his shoulders, pick him up and then place him next to lupin. I then put each hand through their chests and wave at the class. I then remove my hands from their chests and stand next to professor lupin.

"How did she touch Peeves, but then put her hand through him?" Hermione asks.

"I don't know." professor lupin looks at me.

"In a way I can control how my form works, I can touch ghost because I'm the daughter of thanatos, but I can also move through ghosts because I am currently in my shadow form. It's weird I know but it can be useful at time, like right now." I explain to the class.

The class continues on like this until the end of the day.

 **Please Review!**


	5. chapter 5

**Important note: I skipped about 2 ish months because nothing happens much in the 3rd harry Potter book until Christmas, so yeah. the percy jackson part will start after this chapter.** **Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Harry Potter.**

Ariella's POV

Over the next few months I started to feel home at Hogwarts, I was finally accepted somewhere. I had even made a few friends: Draco, Luna, Hermione,zero Harry and Ron, though Harry and Draco is hated each other. Christmas break had just ended a few days before. Harry got a firebolt but it was taken away because professor Dumbledore thought Sirius Black might have sent it and cursed it. My father, thanatos, gave me a black scythe charm bracelet, that turns in to a black scythe like his own.

Hermione and I are talking about the OWLs coming up during dinner.

"When do you think I should start stu-" I cut off feeling something different. I quickly write something down, stuff it in my pocket, and walk to the center of the great hall.

Hermione's POV

I was talking to Ariella when she suddenly cuts off.

"Sorry, what were you asking?" I ask her. I see her write something quickly, put it in her pocket and walk to the center of the room.

"No, it can't be..." I hear her whisper.

The room start to grow darker and the other students and professors start to notice what's happening.

"Ariella, are you okay?" Draco calls out to her. She turns to look at everyone, and I see that her eyes have turned completely black with black tears running down her face.

"No Father- No! You have to fight him!" She screams suddenly.

"Ariella, what's happening?" Professor Dumbledore demands.

"You must fight him! I won't be able to take over completely!" She continues to scream.

"NO!" She screams, she runs straight at the professor's table. At the last minute she becomes her shadow form and runs straight through the table, professor Snape, and the window behind them.

There is stunned silence as we take in what just happened. And then we hear her start to scream again and everyone rushes outside.

"-Every single shadow! All of them within a hundred miles of me! Come to me, now!!" She screams, the light around her starting to pulse with darkness, her armor unfolding except for her helmet.

"Professor Dumbledore! She said that she lost control of her powers when she called all of the shadows in Manhattan. Manhattan is about 23 square miles! She's calling to msny, she won't be able to control all the shadows!" I shout to professor Dumbledore.

Ariella's POV

All the shadows within a hundred miles of me rush towards me.

"Show me the barrier around Hogwarts, I need to see it!" I command my shadows. They start to cover the barrier, until it's completely covered. I fly directly at part of the barrier closest to me. I bounce off and skid until I'm laying on the ground in front of the students. I can hear the professors trying to find spells that could hold back my shadows, but right now I'm to angry to care.

"How dare they! To cage me in when they need me most! Shadows to me!" I scream as I get up and launch into the air.

When I reach about a thousand feet in the air, I stop and hover in front of my shadows. I start to create the shadows to look exactly like me. All except one is wearing a traditional black Greek dress, with a black scythe and my black wings. The one without is wearing an exact copy of my armor complete with my helmet, wings and a black scythe. And I start saying a spell that I have only heard being used in legend.

"My conscious, to my shadows, my shadows to become death incarnate. My shadows shall become me as my physical body stays behind. I shall only return to my body when thanatos has been freed, until then I am Death." I finish the spell. I give the piece of paper and a coin to my armored shadow as my vision turns black and I start to fall.

Dumbledore's POV

Tonight has been interesting, it seems that she has lost control but she's not holding her power back. She just keeps screaming out commands to her shadows. She shot into the air about a thousand feet and stayed there for a few minutes. I can see her creating things out of the shadows. When she's done she starts to fall. Around me the students and the other professors start to scream at me to slow her down or catch her or something.

"I can't! She's to high!" I shout. Then suddenly the shadows that she created caught her and slowly glided back down. They set her on the ground and stepped back to stand in perfect formation. I realize that they all look exactly like Ariella but with a scythe, except one, who was dressed in an exact copy of her armor, also with a scythe.

All of them suddenly look at the remaining shadows and then at Ariella's body. The remaining shadows rush towards her and encase her body.

The armored shadow steps forward and hands me a note.

"What does it say?" Her friends all shout.

"I'll read it out loud, it says:

 _Dear Hogwarts students and professors,_ _If it is what I suspect then my Father,_ _Th_ _anatos,_ _has been kidnapped. He will not be able to preform his duties as death incarnate while missing. As his only daughter it is my duty to step into his role. The shadows figures you see before you are part of a spell I preformed. I will have transferred my conscious to my shadows. There should be 100, all but_ _one will act as death incarnate to the best of my abilities, the other one will be sent to find my Father. The remaining shadows will protect my body while I'm_ _not here._ _I will awaken when my Father has been freed. Until then tell Harry and everyone else not to die, I'd rather not escort their souls to the underworld._

 _From,_ _Ariella._

 _P.S. Try to tell the the gods what happened with the coin provided just makena rainbow and say: O Iris goddess of the rainbow please show me the Olympian Gods and through the coin into the mist._

 _Also if one of my shadow figures wanders into a classroom tell it to ignore the ghosts and ask for an update. Okay I have to go but try not to die, I'll be back as soon as I can!_

That's all her note says." I read out loud to the school.

I turn to look at the other Ariellas. "I appears that you need to go." I tell them.

"We do, one of us will try to check in until father is found. When he is, all of us will come to her. Please move her body to the hospital wing, the shadows won't leave her. But will defend her if anything or anyone tries to harm her body. We must go now, souls are calling out to us. Protect her when we cannot!" Ariella's lead warrior says and hands me a coin.

The Ariellas take one step forward, eyes turning black and launch into the sky. They look at us once before they vanish in search of souls and their Father.

 **Hope everyone likes it. Please REVIEW!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Ok so most of this chapter is from the original book The Son of Neptune, but I added it in for those of you who haven't read the book. But there are changes to it to include Ariella. Next chapter is back to Hogwarts!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own HoO or Harry Potter!**

Nico's POV

Nico swung his feet like a little kid. His Stygian iron sword lay by his side, next to Hazel's spatha. He gazed across the valley, where construction crews were working in the Field of Mars, building fortifications for tonight's games.

"Percy Jackson." He says the name like an incantation. "Hazel, I have to be careful what I say. Important things are at work here. Some secrets need to stay secret. You of all people—you should understand that."

Hazel's cheeks felt hot. "But he's not like…like me?"

"No," Nico says. "I'm sorry I can't tell you more. I can't interfere. Percy has to find his own way at this camp."

"Is he dangerous?" she asked.

Nico manages a dry smile. "Very. To his enemies. But he's not a threat to Camp Jupiter. You can trust him."

"Like I trust you," Hazel says bitterly.

"Look, I know this is hard," Nico says. "But you have a second chance. You can make things right."

"Nothing about this is right," Hazel says. "If they find out the truth about me—"

"They won't," Nico promises. "They'll call a quest soon. They have to. You'll make me proud. Trust me, Bi—"

He caught himself, but Hazel knew what he'd almost called her: Bianca. Nico's real sister—the one he'd grown up with. Nico might care about Hazel, but she'd never be Bianca. Hazel was the simply the next best thing Nico could manage—a consolation prize from the Underworld.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Then it's true about Death? Is Alcyoneus to blame?" she asks.

"Oh, it's true!" Said a voice behind him.

He turned around and saw something that surprised him.

"Ariella? What are you doing here, I thought you were supposed to be... elsewhere?" Nico said

"I am." She said cryptically as sat down on the roof next to them.

"You have wings." Hazel blurted out.

"I do indeed comes with being a daughter of death, but that's not the reason I'm here. Father has been taken and I've been trying to get all the souls but it's hard. Human souls are easy, but demigods? That's harder. I'm here because I heard that someone is going to be sent to find Father." She explains.

"It's getting bad in the Underworld. Dad's going crazy trying to keep things under control. From what Percy said about the gorgons, things are getting worse up here, too." Nico says.

"But look, that's why you're here. All that stuff in your past—you can make something good come out of it. You belong at Camp Jupiter." he says to Hazel.

"You really do Hazel, I know that you came from a different time but you'll learn that you do belong in this time period." Ariella tells her.

"How did you know?" Hazel asks.

"I'm a daughter of Death and I've been escorting souls for the past few weeks. I've learned how to recognize a soul." She explains.

"I have to go, I can sense that a death will happen soon, not sure when but it'll happen soon. I'll meet you again at dinner." She says before she flies towards the city.

"I can't go north again," Hazel says. "Nico, if I have to go back to where it happened—"

"You'll be fine," he promises. "You'll have friends this time. Percy Jackson—he's got a role to play in this. You can sense that, can't you? He's a good person to have at your side."

"Where did he come from?" she asked. "Why do the ghosts call him the Greek?"

"We'd better get down there," Nico said. "I have a feeling tonight's war games are going to be interesting."

Hazel's POV

She should have known not to run so fast, but she was afraid of being late for muster. The Fifth Cohort had the nicest centurions in camp. Still, even they would have to punish her if she was tardy. Roman punishments were harsh: scrubbing the streets with a toothbrush, cleaning the bull pens at the coliseum, getting sewn inside a sack full of angry weasels and dumped into the Little Tiber—the options were not great.

The gold bar popped out of the ground just in time for her foot to hit it. Nico tried to catch her, but she took a spill and scraped her hands.

"You okay?" Nico knelt next to her and reached for the bar of gold.

"Don't!" Hazel warned.

Nico froze. "Right. Sorry. It's just…jeez. That thing is huge." He pulled a flask of nectar from his aviator jacket and poured a little on Hazel's hands. Immediately the cuts started to heal. "Can you stand?"

He helped her up. They both stared at the gold. It was the size of a bread loaf, stamped with a serial number and the words u.s. treasury.

Nico shook his head. "How in Tartarus—?"

"I don't know," Hazel said miserably. "It could've been buried there by robbers or dropped off a wagon a hundred years ago. Maybe it migrated from the nearest bank vault. Whatever's in the ground, anywhere close to me—it just pops up. And the more valuable it is—"

"The more dangerous it is." Nico frowned. "Should we cover it up? If the fauns find it…"

Hazel imagined a mushroom cloud billowing up from the road, char-broiled fauns tossed in every direction. It was too horrible to consider. "It should sink back underground after I leave, eventually, but just to be sure…"

She'd been practicing this trick, but never with something so heavy and dense. She pointed at the gold bar and tried to concentrate.

The gold levitated. She channeled her anger, which wasn't hard—she hated that gold, she hated her curse, she hated thinking about her past and all the ways she'd failed. Her fingers tingled. The gold bar glowed with heat.

Nico gulped. "Um, Hazel, are you sure…?"

She made a fist. The gold bent like putty. Hazel forced it to twist into a giant, lumpy ring. Then she flicked her hand toward the ground. Her million-dollar doughnut slammed into the earth. It sank so deep, nothing was left but a scar of fresh dirt.

Nico's eyes widened. "That was…terrifying."

Hazel didn't think it was so impressive compared to the powers of a guy who could reanimate skeletons and bring people back from the dead, but it felt good to surprise him for a change.

Inside the camp, horns blew again. The cohorts would be starting roll call, and Hazel had no desire to be sewn into a sack of weasels.

"Hurry!" she told Nico, and they ran for the gates.

The first time Hazel had seen the legion assemble, she'd been so intimidated, she'd almost slunk back to the barracks to hide. Even after being at camp for nine months, she still found it an impressive sight.

The first four cohorts, each forty kids strong, stood in rows in front of their barracks on either side of the Via Praetoria. The Fifth Cohort assembled at the very end, in front of the principia, since their barracks were tucked in the back corner of camp next to the stables and the latrines. Hazel had to run right down the middle of the legion to reach her place.

The campers were dressed for war. Their polished chain mail and greaves gleamed over purple T-shirts and jeans. Sword-and-skull designs decorated their helmets. Even their leather combat boots looked ferocious with their iron cleats, great for marching through mud or stomping on faces.

In front of the legionnaires, like a line of giant dominoes, stood their red and gold shields, each the size of a refrigerator door. Every legionnaire carried a harpoon like spear called a pilum, a gladius, a dagger, and about a hundred pounds of other equipment. If you were out of shape when you came to the legion, you didn't stay that way for long. Just walking around in your armor was a full-body workout.

Hazel and Nico jogged down the street as everyone was coming to attention, so their entrance was really obvious. Their footsteps echoed on the stones. Hazel tried to avoid eye contact, but she caught Octavian at the head of the First Cohort smirking at her, looking smug in his plumed centurion's helmet with a dozen medals pinned on his chest.

Hazel was still seething from his blackmail threats earlier. Stupid augur and his gift of prophecy—of all the people at camp to discover her secrets, why did it have to be him? She was sure he would have told on her weeks ago, except that he knew her secrets were worth more to him as leverage. She wished she'd kept that bar of gold so she could hit him in the face with it.

She ran past Reyna, who was cantering back and forth on her pegasus Scipio—nicknamed Skippy because he was the color of peanut butter. The metal dogs Aurum and Argentum trotted at her side. Her purple officer's cape billowed behind her.

"Hazel Levesque," she called, "so glad you could join us."

Hazel knew better than to respond. She was missing most of her equipment, but she hurried to her place in line next to Frank and stood at attention. Their lead centurion, a big seventeen-year-old guy named Dakota, was just calling her name—the last one on the roll.

"Present!" she squeaked.

Thank the gods. Technically, she wasn't late.

Nico joined Percy Jackson, who was standing off to one side with a couple of guards. Percy's hair was wet from the baths. He'd put on fresh clothes, but he still looked uncomfortable. Hazel couldn't blame him. He was about to be introduced to two hundred heavily armed kids.

The Lares were the last ones to fall in. Their purple forms flickered as they jockeyed for places. They had an annoying habit of standing halfway inside living people, so that the ranks looked like a blurry photograph, but finally the centurions got them sorted out.

Octavian shouted, "Colors!"

The standard-bearers stepped forward. They wore lion-skincapes and held poles decorated with each cohort's emblems. The last to present his standard was Jacob, the legion's eagle bearer. He held a long pole with absolutely nothing on top. The job was supposed to be a big honor, but Jacob obviously hated it. Even though Reyna insisted on following tradition, every time the eagleless pole was raised, Hazel could feel embarrassment rippling through the legion.

Reyna brought her pegasus to a halt.

"Romans!" she announced. "You've probably heard about the incursion today. Two gorgons were swept into the river by this newcomer, Percy Jackson. Juno herself guided him here, and proclaimed him a son of Neptune."

The kids in the back rows craned their necks to see Percy. He raised his hand and said, "Hi."

"He seeks to join the legion," Reyna continued. "What do the auguries say?"

"I have read the entrails!" Octavian announced, as if he'd killed a lion with his bare hands rather than ripping up a stuffed panda pillow. "The auguries are favorable. He is qualified to serve!"

The campers gave a shout: "Ave!" Hail!

Frank was a little late with his "ave," so it came out as a high-pitched echo. The other legionnaires snickered.

Reyna motioned the senior officers forward—one from each cohort. Octavian, as the most senior centurion, turned to Percy.

"Recruit," he asked, "do you have credentials? Letters of reference?"

Hazel remembered this from her own arrival. A lot of kids brought letters from older demigods in the outside world, adults who were veterans of the camp. Some recruits had rich and famous sponsors. Some were third- or fourth-generation campers. A good letter could get you a position in the better cohorts, sometimes even special jobs like legion messenger, which made you exempt from the grunt work like digging ditches or conjugating Latin verbs.

Percy shifted. "Letters? Um, no."

Octavian wrinkled his nose.

Unfair! Hazel wanted to shout. Percy had carried a goddess into camp. What better recommendation could you want?

But Octavian's family had been sending kids to camp for over a century. He loved reminding recruits that they were less important than he was.

"No letters," Octavian said regretfully. "Will any legionnaires stand for him?"

"I will!" Frank stepped forward. "He saved my life!"

Immediately there were shouts of protest from the other cohorts. Reyna raised her hand for quiet and glared at Frank.

"Frank Zhang," she said, "for the second time today, I remind you that you are on probatio. Your godly parent has not even claimed you yet. You're not eligible to stand for another camper until you've earned your first stripe."

Frank looked like he might die of embarrassment.

Hazel couldn't leave him hanging. She stepped out of line and said, "What Frank means is that Percy saved both our lives. I am a full member of the legion. I will stand for Percy Jackson."

Frank glanced at her gratefully, but the other campers started to mutter. Hazel was barely eligible. She'd only gotten her stripe a few weeks ago, and the "act of valor" that earned it for her had been mostly an accident. Besides, she was a daughter of Pluto, and a member of the disgraced Fifth Cohort. She wasn't doing Percy much of a favor by giving him her support.

Reyna wrinkled her nose, but she turned to Octavian. The augur smiled and shrugged, like the idea amused him.

Why not? Hazel thought. Putting Percy in the Fifth would make him less of a threat, and Octavian liked to keep all his enemies in one place.

"Very well," Reyna announced. "Hazel Levesque, you may stand for the recruit. Does your cohort accept him?"

The other cohorts started coughing, trying not to laugh. Hazel knew what they were thinking: Another loser for the Fifth.

Frank pounded his shield against the ground. The other members of the Fifth followed his lead, though they didn't seem very excited. Their centurions, Dakota and Gwen, exchanged pained looks, like: Here we go again.

"My cohort has spoken," Dakota said. "We accept the recruit."

Reyna looked at Percy with pity. "Congratulations, Percy Jackson. You stand on probatio. You will be given a tablet with your name and cohort. In one year's time, or as soon as you complete an act of valor, you will become a full member of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata. Serve Rome, obey the rules of the legion, and defend the camp with honor. Senatus Populusque Romanus!"

The rest of the legion echoed the cheer.

Reyna wheeled her pegasus away from Percy, like she was glad to be done with him. Skippy spread his beautiful wings. Hazel couldn't help feeling a pang of envy. She'd give anything for a horse like that, but it would never happen. Horses were for officers only, or barbarian cavalry, not for Roman legionnaires.

"Centurions," Reyna said, "you and your troops have one hour for dinner. Then we will meet on the Field of Mars. The First and Second Cohorts will defend. The Third, Fourth, and Fifth will attack. Good fortune!"

A bigger cheer went up—for the war games and for dinner. The cohorts broke ranks and ran for the mess hall.

Hazel waved at Percy, who made his way through the crowd with Nico at his side. To Hazel's surprise, Nico was beaming at her.

"Good job, Sis," he said. "That took guts, standing for him."

He had never called her Sis before. She wondered if that was what he had called Bianca.

One of the guards had given Percy his probatio nameplate. Percy strung it on his leather necklace with the strange beads.

"Thanks, Hazel," he said. "Um, what exactly does it mean—your standing for me?"

"I guarantee your good behavior," Hazel explained. "I teach you the rules, answer your questions, make sure you don't disgrace the legion."

"And…if I do something wrong?"

"Then I get killed along with you," Hazel said. "Hungry? Let's eat."

AT LEAST THE CAMP FOOD WAS GOOD. Invisible wind spirits—aurae—waited on the campers and seemed to know exactly what everyone wanted. They blew plates and cups around so quickly, the mess hall looked like a delicious hurricane. If you got up too fast, you were likely to get beaned by beans or potted by a pot roast.

Hazel got shrimp gumbo—her favorite comfort food. It made her think about being a little girl in New Orleans, before her curse set in and her mom got so bitter. Percy got a cheeseburger and a strange-looking soda that was bright blue. Hazel didn't understand that, but Percy tried it and grinned.

"This makes me happy," he said. "I don't know why…but it does."

Just for a moment, one of the aurae became visible—an elfin girl in a white silk dress. She giggled as she topped off Percy's glass, then disappeared in a gust.

The mess hall seemed especially noisy tonight. Laughter echoed off the walls. War banners rustled from cedar ceiling beams as aurae blew back and forth, keeping everyone's plates full. The campers dined Roman style, sitting on couches around low tables. Kids were constantly getting up and trading places, spreading rumors about who liked whom and all the other gossip.

As usual, the Fifth Cohort took the place of least honor. Their tables were at the back of the dining hall next to the kitchen. Hazel's table was always the least crowded. Tonight it was she and Frank, as usual, with Percy and Nico and their centurion Dakota, who sat there, Hazel figured, because he felt obligated to welcome the new recruit.

Dakota reclined glumly on his couch, mixing sugar into his drink and chugging it. He was a beefy guy with curly black hair and eyes that didn't quite line up straight, so Hazel felt like the world was leaning whenever she looked at him. It wasn't a good sign that he was drinking so much so early in the night.

"So." He burped, waving his goblet. "Welcome to the Percy, party." He frowned. "Party, Percy. Whatever."

"Um, thanks," Percy said, but his attention was focused on Nico. "I was wondering if we could talk, you know…about where I might have seen you before."

"Sure," Nico said a little too quickly. "The thing is, I spend most of my time in the Underworld. So unless I met you there somehow—"

Dakota belched. "Ambassador from Pluto, they call him. Reyna's never sure what to do with this guy when he visits.

You should have seen her face when he showed up with Hazel, asking Reyna to take her in. Um, no offense."

"None taken." Nico seemed relieved to change the topic. "Dakota was really helpful, standing for Hazel."

Dakota blushed. "Yeah, well…She seemed like a good kid. Turned out I was right. Last month, when she saved me from, uh, you know."

"Oh, man!" Frank looked up from his fish and chips. "Percy, you should have seen her! That's how Hazel got her stripe. The unicorns decided to stampede—"

"It was nothing," Hazel said.

"Nothing?" Frank protested. "Dakota would've gotten trampled! You stood right in front of them, shooed them away, saved his hide. I've never seen anything like it."

Hazel bit her lip. She didn't like to talk about it, and she felt uncomfortable, the way Frank made her sound like a hero. In truth, she'd been mostly afraid that the unicorns would hurt themselves in their panic. Their horns were precious metal—silver and gold—so she'd managed to turn them aside simply by concentrating, steering the animals by their horns and guiding them back to the stables. It had gotten her a full place in the legion, but it had also started rumors about her strange powers—rumors that reminded her of the bad old days.

Percy studied her. Those sea-green eyes made her unsettled.

"Did you and Nico grow up together?" he asked.

"No," Nico answered for her. "I found out that Hazel was my sister only recently. She's from New Orleans."

That was true, of course, but not the whole truth. Nico let people think he'd stumbled upon her in modern New Orleans and brought her to camp. It was easier than telling the real story.

Hazel had tried to pass herself off as a modern kid. It wasn't easy. Thankfully, demigods didn't use a lot of technology at camp. Their powers tended to make electronic gadgets go haywire. But the first time she went on furlough to Berkeley, she had nearly had a stroke. Televisions, computers, iPods, the Internet…It made her glad to get back to the world of ghosts, unicorns, and gods. That seemed much less of a fantasy than the twenty-first century.

Nico was still talking about the children of Pluto. "There aren't many of us," he said, "so we have to stick together. When I found Hazel—"

"You have other sisters?" Percy asked, almost as if he knew the answer. Hazel wondered again when he and Nico had met, and what her brother was hiding.

"One," Nico admitted. "But she died. I saw her spirit a few times in the Underworld, except that the last time I went down there..."

To bring her back, Hazel thought, though Nico didn't say that.

"She was gone." Nico's voice turned hoarse. "She used to be in Elysium—like, the Underworld paradise—but she chose to be reborn into a new life. Now I'll never see her again. I was just lucky to find Hazel…in New Orleans, I mean."

Dakota grunted. "Unless you believe the rumors. Not saying that I do."

"Rumors?" Percy asked.

From across the room, Don the faun yelled, "Hazel!"

Hazel had never been so glad to see the faun. He wasn't allowed in camp, but of course he always managed to get in. He was working his way toward their table, grinning at everybody, sneaking food off plates, and pointing at campers: "Hey! Call me!" A flying pizza smacked him in the head, and he disappeared behind a couch. Then he popped up, still grinning, and made his way over.

"My favorite girl!" He smelled like a wet goat wrapped in old cheese. He leaned over their couches and checked out their food. "Say, new kid, you going to eat that?"

Percy frowned. "Aren't fauns vegetarian?"

"Not the cheeseburger, man! The plate!" He sniffed Percy's hair. "Hey…what's that smell?"

"Don!" Hazel said. "Don't be rude."

"No, man, I just—"

Their house god Vitellius shimmered into existence, standing half embedded in Frank's couch. "Fauns in the dining hall! What are we coming to? Centurion Dakota, do your duty!"

"I am," Dakota grumbled into his goblet. "I'm having dinner!"

Don was still sniffing around Percy. "Man, you've got an empathy link with a faun!"

Percy leaned away from him. "A what?"

"An empathy link! It's real faint, like somebody's suppressed it, but—"

"I know what!" Nico stood suddenly. "Hazel, how about we give you and Frank time to get Percy oriented? Dakota and I can visit the praetor's table. Don and Vitellius, you come too. We can discuss strategies for the war games."

"Strategies for losing?" Dakota muttered.

"Death Boy is right!" Vitellius said. "This legion fights worse than we did in Judea, and that was the first time we lost our eagle. Why, if I were in charge—"

"Hello again Nico, Hazel." Ariella said as she stepped out of the shadows behind Vitellius

"M-my L-lady! What are you doing here?" Vitellius stuttered out.

"I'm trying to find my Father." She replied

"The war games are starting soon right, Nico?" She asks

"Yes, so let's go!" Nico stood and grabbed Don and Vitellius by the ears.

Nobody but Nico could actually touch the Lares. Vitellius spluttered with outrage as he was dragged off to the praetor's table.

"Ow!" Don protested. "Man, watch the 'fro!"

"Come on, Dakota!" Nico called over his shoulder.

The centurion got up reluctantly. He wiped his mouth—uselessly, since it was permanently stained red. "Back soon." He shook all over, like a dog trying to get dry. Then he staggered away, his goblet sloshing.

"What was that about?" Percy asked. "And what's wrong with Dakota?"

Frank sighed. "He's okay. He's a son of Bacchus, the wine god. He's got a drinking problem."

Percy's eyes widened. "You let him drink wine?"

"Gods, no!" Hazel said. "That would be a disaster. He's addicted to red Kool-Aid. Drinks it with three times the normal sugar, and he's already ADHD—you know, attention deficit/hyperactive. One of these days, his head is going to explode."

Percy looked over at the praetor's table. Most of the senior officers were in deep conversation with Reyna. Nico and his two captives, Don and Vitellius, stood on the periphery. Dakota was running back and forth along a line of stacked shields, banging his goblet on them like they were a xylophone.

"ADHD," Percy said. "You don't say."

"So who are you?" Percy asks Ariella

"I am what you could say to be an old friend." She answers.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asks confused.

"You will find out in time, but for now I am the one who escorts souls so I am an old friend to many." She replies.

Frank's POV

They marched to the center of the Field of Mars and formed ranks. The Third and Fourth Cohorts assembled as far as possible from the Fifth. The centurions for the attacking side gathered for a conference. In the sky above them, Reyna circled on her pegasus, Scipio, ready to play referee.

Half a dozen giant eagles flew in formation behind her—prepared for ambulance airlift duty if necessary. The only person not participating in the game was Nico di Angelo, "Pluto's ambassador," who had climbed an observation tower about a hundred yards from the fort and would be watching with binoculars.

Frank propped his pilum against his shield and checked Percy's armor. Every strap was correct. Every piece of armor was properly adjusted.

"You did it right," he said in amazement. "Percy, you must've done war games before."

"I don't know. Maybe."

The only thing that wasn't regulation was Percy's glowing bronze sword—not Imperial gold, and not a gladius. The blade was leaf-shaped, and the writing on the hilt was Greek.

Looking at it made Frank uneasy. Percy frowned. "We can use real weapons, right?"

"Yeah," Frank agreed. "For sure. I've just never seen a sword like that."

"What if I hurt somebody?"

"We heal them," Frank said. "Or try to. The legion medics are pretty good with ambrosia and nectar, and unicorn draught."

"No one dies," Hazel said. "Well, not usually. And if they do—"

Frank imitated the voice of Vitellius: "They're wimps! Backin my day, we died all the time, and we liked it!"

Hazel laughed. "Just stay with us, Percy. Chances are we'll get the worst duty and get eliminated early. They'll throw us at the walls first to soften up the defenses. Then the Third and Fourth Cohorts will march in and get the honors, if they can even breach the fort."

Horns blew. Dakota and Gwen walked back from the officers' conference, looking grim.

"All right, here's the plan!" Dakota took a quick swig of Kool-Aid from his travel flask. "They're throwing us at the walls first to soften up the defenses."

The whole cohort groaned.

"I know, I know," Gwen said. "But maybe this time we'll have some luck!"

Leave it to Gwen to be the optimist. Everybody liked her because she took care of her people and tried to keep their spirits up. She could even control Dakota during his hyperactive bug-juice fits. Still, the campers grumbled and complained. Nobody believed in luck for the Fifth.

"First line with Dakota," Gwen said. "Lock shields and advance in turtle formation to the main gates. Try to stay in one piece. Draw their fire. Second line—" Gwen turned to Frank's row without much enthusiasm. "You seventeen, from Bobby over, take charge of the elephant and the scaling ladders. Try a flanking attack on the western wall. Maybe we can spread the defenders too thin. Frank, Hazel, Percy…well, just do whatever. Show Percy the ropes. Try to keep him alive." She turned back to the whole cohort. "If anybody gets over the wall first, I'll make sure you get the Mural Crown. Victory for the Fifth!"

The cohort cheered half heartedly and broke ranks.

Percy frowned. "'Do whatever?'"

"Yeah," Hazel sighed. "Big vote of confidence."

"What's the Mural Crown?" he asked.

"Military medal," Frank said. He'd been forced to memorize all the possible awards. "Big honor for the first soldier to breach an enemy fort. You'll notice nobody in the Fifth is wearing one. Usually we don't even get into the fort because we're burning or drowning or…"

He faltered, and looked at Percy. "Water cannons."

"What?" Percy asked.

"The cannons on the walls," Frank said, "they draw water from the aqueduct. There's a pump system—heck, I don't know how they work, but they're under a lot of pressure. If you could control them, like you controlled the river—"

"Frank!" Hazel beamed. "That's brilliant!"

Percy didn't look so sure. "I don't know how I did that at the river. I'm not sure I can control the cannons from this far away."

"We'll get you closer." Frank pointed to the eastern wall of the fort, where the Fifth Cohort wouldn't be attacking. "That's where the defense will be weakest. They'll never take three kids seriously. I think we can sneak up pretty close before they see us."

"Sneak up how?" Percy asked.

Frank turned to Hazel. "Can you do that thing again?"

She punched him in the chest. "You said you wouldn't tell anybody!"

Immediately Frank felt terrible. He'd gotten so caught up in the idea...

Hazel muttered under her breath. "Never mind. It's fine.

Percy, he's talking about the trenches. The Field of Mars is riddled with tunnels from over the years. Some are collapsed, or buried deep, but a lot of them are still passable. I'm pretty good at finding them and using them. I can even collapse them if I have to."

"Like you did with the gorgons," Percy said, "to slow them down."

Frank nodded approvingly. "I told you Pluto was cool. He's the god of everything under the earth. Hazel can find caves, tunnels, trapdoors—"

"And it was our secret," she grumbled.

Frank felt himself blushing. "Yeah, sorry. But if we can get close—"

"And if I can knock out the water cannons…" Percy nodded, like he was warming to the idea. "What do we do then?"

Frank checked his quiver. He always stocked up on special arrows. He'd never gotten to use them before, but maybe tonight was the night. Maybe he could finally do something good enough to get Apollo's attention.

"The rest is up to me," he said. "Let's go."

XI Frank

FRANK HAD NEVER FELT SO SURE of anything, which made him nervous. Nothing he planned ever went right. He always managed to break, ruin, burn, sit on, or knock over something important. Yet he knew this strategy would work.

Hazel found them a tunnel with no problem. In fact, Frank had a sneaking suspicion she didn't just find tunnels. It was as though tunnels manufactured themselves to suit her needs. Passages that had been filled in years ago suddenly unfilled, changing direction to lead Hazel where she wanted to go. They crept along by the light of Percy's glowing sword,

Riptide. Above, they heard the sounds of battle—kids shout ing, Hannibal the elephant bellowing with glee, scorpion bolts exploding, and water cannons firing. The tunnel shook. Dirt rained down on them.

Frank slipped his hand inside his armor. The piece of wood was still safe and secure in his coat pocket, though one good shot from a scorpion might set his lifeline on fire.…

Bad Frank, he chided himself. Fire is the "F-word." Don't think about it.

"There's an opening just ahead," Hazel announced. "We'll come up ten feet from the east wall."

"How can you tell?" Percy asked.

"I don't know," she said. "But I'm sure."

"Could we tunnel straight under the wall?" Frank wondered.

"No," Hazel said. "The engineers were smart. They built the walls on old foundations that go down to bedrock. And don't ask how I know. I just do."

Frank stumbled over something and cursed. Percy brought this sword around for more light. The thing Frank had tripped on was gleaming silver.

He crouched down.

"Don't touch it!" Hazel said.

Frank's hand stopped a few inches from the chunk of metal. It looked like a giant Hershey's Kiss, about the size of his fist.

"It's massive," he said. "Silver?"

"Platinum." Hazel sounded scared out of her wits. "It'll go away in a second. Please don't touch it. It's dangerous."

Frank didn't understand how a lump of metal could be dangerous, but he took Hazel seriously. As they watched, the chunk of platinum sank into the ground.

He stared at Hazel. "How did you know?"

In the light of Percy's sword, Hazel looked as ghostly as a Lar. "I'll explain later," she promised.

Another explosion rocked the tunnel, and they forged ahead.

They popped out of a hole just where Hazel had predicted. In front of them, the fort's east wall loomed. Off to their left, Frank could see the main line of the Fifth Cohort advancing in turtle formation, shields forming a shell over their heads and sides. They were trying to reach the main gates, but the defenders above pelted them with rocks and shot flaming bolts from the scorpions, blasting craters around their feet. A water cannon discharged with a jaw-rattling THRUM, and a jet of liquid carved a trench in the dirt right in front of the cohort.

Percy whistled. "That's a lot of pressure, all right."

The Third and Fourth Cohorts weren't even advancing. They stood back and laughed, watching their "allies" get beat up. The defenders clustered on the wall above the gates, yelling insults at the tortoise formation as it staggered back and forth. War games had deteriorated into "beat up the Fifth."

Frank's vision went red with anger.

"Let's shake things up." He reached in his quiver and pulled out an arrow heavier than the rest. The iron tip was shaped like the nose cone of a rocket. An ultra thin gold rope trailed from the fletching. Shooting it accurately up the wall would take more force and skill than most archers could manage, but Frank had strong arms and good aim.

Maybe Apollo is watching, he thought hopefully.

"What does that do?" Percy asked. "Grappling hook?"

"It's called a hydra arrow," Frank said. "Can you knock out the water cannons?"

A defender appeared on the wall above them. "Hey!" he shouted to his buddies. "Check it out! More victims!"

"Percy," Frank said, "now would be good."

More kids came across the battlements to laugh at them. A few ran to the nearest water cannon and swung the barrel toward Frank.

Percy closed his eyes. He raised his hand.

Up on the wall, somebody yelled, "Open wide, losers!"

KA-BOOM!

The cannon exploded in a starburst of blue, green, and white. Defenders screamed as a watery shock wave flattened them against the battlements. Kids toppled over the walls but were snatched by giant eagles and carried to safety. Then the entire eastern wall shuddered as the explosion backed up through the pipelines. One after another, the water cannons on the battlements exploded. The scorpions' fires were doused. Defenders scattered in confusion or were tossed through the air, giving the rescue eagles quite a workout. At the main gates, the Fifth Cohort forgot about their formation. Mystified, they lowered their shields and stared at the chaos.

Frank shot his arrow. It streaked upward, carrying its glittering rope. When it reached the top, the metal point fractured into a dozen lines that lashed out and wrapped around anything they could find—parts of the wall, a scorpion, a broken water cannon, and a couple of defending campers, who yelped and found themselves slammed against the battlements as anchors. From the main rope, handholds extended at two-foot intervals, making a ladder.

"Go!" Frank said.

Percy grinned. "You first, Frank. This is your party."

Frank hesitated. Then he slung his bow on his back and began to climb. He was halfway up before the defenders recovered their senses enough to sound the alarm.

Frank glanced back at Fifth Cohort's main group. They were staring up at him, dumbfounded.

"Well?" Frank screamed. "Attack!"

Gwen was the first to unfreeze. She grinned and repeated the order. A cheer went up from the battlefield. Hannibal the elephant trumpeted with happiness, but Frank couldn't afford to watch. He clambered to the top of the wall, where three defenders were trying to hack down his rope ladder.

One good thing about being big, clumsy, and clad in metal:Frank was like a heavily armored bowling ball. He launched himself at the defenders, and they toppled like pins. Frank got to his feet. He took command of the battlements, sweeping his pilum back and forth and knocking down defenders. Some shot arrows. Some tried to get under his guard with their swords, but Frank felt unstoppable. Then Hazel appeared next to him, swinging her big cavalry sword like she was born for battle.

Percy leaped onto the wall and raised Riptide.

"Fun," he said.

Together they cleared the defenders off the walls. Below them the gates broke. Hannibal barreled into the fort, arrows and rocks bouncing harmlessly off his Kevlar armor.

The Fifth Cohort charged in behind the elephant, and the battle went hand-to-hand.

Finally, from the edge of the Field of Mars, a battle cry went up. The Third and Fourth Cohorts ran to join the fight.

"A little late," Hazel grumbled.

"We can't let them get the banners," Frank said.

"No," Percy agreed. "Those are ours."

No more talk was necessary. They moved like a team, as if the three of them had been working together for years. They rushed down the interior steps and into the enemy base.

After that, the battle was mayhem.

Frank, Percy, and Hazel waded through the enemy, plowing down anyone who stood in their way. The First and Second Cohorts—pride of Camp Jupiter, a well-oiled, highly disciplined war machine—fell apart under the assault and the sheer novelty of being on the losing side.

Part of their problem was Percy. He fought like a demon, whirling through the defenders' ranks in a completely unorthodox style, rolling under their feet, slashing with his sword instead of stabbing like a Roman would, whacking campers with the flat of his blade, and generally causing mass panic. Octavian screamed in a shrill voice—maybe ordering the First Cohort to stand their ground, maybe trying to sing soprano—but Percy put a stop to it. He somer saulted over a line of shields and slammed the butt of his sword into Octavian's helmet. The centurion collapsed like a sock puppet.

Frank shot arrows until his quiver was empty, using blunt-tipped missiles that wouldn't kill but left some nasty bruises. He broke his pilum over a defender's head, then reluctantly drew his gladius.

Meanwhile, Hazel climbed onto Hannibal's back. She charged toward the center of the fort, grinning down at her friends. "Let's go, slowpokes!"

Gods of Olympus, she's beautiful, Frank thought.

They ran to the center of the base. The inner keep was virtually unguarded. Obviously the defenders never dreamed an assault would get this far. Hannibal busted down the huge doors. Inside, the First and Second Cohort standard-bearers were sitting around a table playing Mythomagic with cards and figurines. The cohort's emblems were propped carelessly against one wall.

Hazel and Hannibal rode straight into the room, and the standard-bearers fell backward out of their chairs. Hannibal stepped on the table, and game pieces scattered.

By the time the rest of the cohort caught up with them, Percy and Frank had disarmed the enemies, grabbed the banners, and climbed onto Hannibal's back with Hazel. They marched out of the keep triumphantly with the enemy colors.

The Fifth Cohort formed ranks around them. Together they paraded out of the fort, past stunned enemies and lines of equally mystified allies.

Reyna circled low overhead on her pegasus. "The game is won!" She sounded as if she were trying not to laugh. "Assemble for honors!"

Slowly the campers regrouped on the Field of Mars. Frank saw plenty of minor injuries—some burns, broken bones, black eyes, cuts and gashes, plus a lot of very interesting hairdos from fires and exploding water cannons—but nothing that couldn't be fixed.

He slid off the elephant. His comrades swarmed him, pounding him on the back and complimenting him. Frank wondered if he was dreaming. It was the best night of his life—until he saw Gwen.

"Help!" somebody yelled. A couple of campers rushed out of the fortress, carrying a girl on a stretcher. They set her down, and other kids started running over. Even from a distance, Frank could tell it was Gwen. She was in bad shape. She lay on her side on the stretcher with a pilum sticking out of her armor—almost like she was holding it between her chest and her arm, but there was too much blood.

Frank shook his head in disbelief. "No, no, no…" he muttered as he ran to her side.

The medics barked at everyone to stand back and give her air. The whole legion fell silent as the healers worked—trying to get gauze and powdered unicorn horn under Gwen's armor to stop the bleeding, trying to force some nectar into her mouth. Gwen didn't move. Her face was ashen gray.

Finally one of the medics looked up at Reyna and shook his head.

For a moment, there was no sound except water from the ruined cannons trickling down the walls of the fort. Hannibal nuzzled Gwen's hair with his trunk.

Reyna surveyed the campers from her pegasus. Her expression was as hard and dark as iron. "There will be an investigation. Whoever did this, you cost the legion a good officer. Honorable death is one thing, but this ... "

Frank wasn't sure what she meant. Then he noticed the marks engraved in the wooden shaft of the pilum: CHT I LEGIO XII F. The weapon belonged to the First Cohort, and the point was sticking out the front of her armor. Gwen had been speared from behind—possibly after the game had ended.

Frank scanned the crowd for Octavian. The centurion was watching with more interest than concern, as if he were examining one of his stupid gutted teddy bears. He didn't have a pilum.

A swirl of darkness appeared and a girl in a tradition black dress with black wings and a black scythe appeared.  
"Its about time you got here." Grumbled another figure walking through the crowd. The figure wore completely black armor and also had black wings and a scythe. "We both know how hard it is to get demigod souls."

"Ariella?" exclaimed Nico as he appeared. "How are there 2 of you here?"

"Like I said earlier, I'm not actually here and neither is she." Ariella said pointing to the other girl.

"What do you mean you aren't actually here?" Octavian asks rudely.

"Both of us are the same person." They answered at the same time.

"That's not possible." He says

"We have no physical body right now, we are only shadow, just as the others are too." They answer simultaneously

"What do you mean by others?" Nico interjected

"Ariella made a hundred so that we could collect as many souls as we can as Father is still missing. We are her conscious, her physical body is currently in the hospital wing." they explain. "Oh we should give an update after we are done here, also."

"Give an update to who? Are you here to spy on us?" Octavian demands, pulling out his dagger.

"We are not spying Octavian, legacy of Apollo, we are only here to collect the dead's souls and find our Father. Then we will leave." They said.

Octavian opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment, Gwen gasped.

Everyone stepped back. Gwen opened her eyes. The color came back to her face.

"Wh-what is it?" She blinked. "What's everyone staring at?" She didn't seem to notice the seven-foot harpoon sticking out through her chest.

Behind Frank, a medic whispered, "There's no way. She was dead. She has to be dead."

Gwen tried to sit up, but couldn't. "There was a river, and a man asking…for a coin? I turned around and the exit door was open. So I just…I just left. I don't understand. What's happened?"

Everyone stared at her in horror. Nobody tried to help.

"Well I guess we missed a soul in this argument. You will need to leave now there are many other souls to be taken." The black armored one said to the one in the dress. The one in the the dress nodded and vanished in a swirl of darkness.

"Gwen." Frank knelt next to her. "Don't try to get up. Just close your eyes for a second, okay?"

"Why? What—"

"Just trust me."

Gwen did what he asked.

Frank grabbed the shaft of the pilum below its tip, but his hands were shaking. The wood was slick. "Percy, Hazel—help me."

One of the medics realized what he was planning. "Don't!" he said. "You might—"

"What?" Hazel snapped. "Make it worse?"

Frank took a deep breath. "Hold her steady. One, two, three!"

He pulled the pilum out from the front. Gwen didn't even wince. The blood stopped quickly.

Hazel bent down to examine the wound. "It's closing on its own," she said. "I don't know how, but—"

"I feel fine," Gwen protested. "What's everyone worried about?"

With Frank and Percy's help, she got to her feet. Frank glowered at Octavian, but the centurion's face was a mask of polite concern.

Later, Frank thought. Deal with him later.

"Gwen," Hazel said gently, "there's no easy way to say this. You were dead. Somehow you came back."

"I…what?" She stumbled against Frank. Her hand pressed against the ragged hole in her armor. "How—how?"

"Good question." Reyna turned to Nico, who was watching grimly from the edge of the crowd. "Is this some power of Pluto?"

Nico shook his head. "Pluto never lets people return from the dead."

He glanced at Hazel as if warning her to stay quiet. Frank wondered what that was about, but he didn't have time to think about it.

A thunderous voice rolled across the field: Death loses its hold. This is only the beginning.

Campers drew weapons. Hannibal trumpeted nervously. Scipio reared, almost throwing Reyna.

"I know that voice," Percy said. He didn't sound pleased.

In the midst of the legion, a column of fire blasted into the air. Heat seared Frank's eyelashes. Campers who had been soaked by the cannons found their clothes instantly steam-dried. Everyone scrambled backward as a huge soldier stepped out of the explosion.

Frank didn't have much hair, but what he did have stood straight up. The soldier was ten feet tall, dressed in Canadian Forces desert camouflage. He radiated confidence and power. His black hair was cut in a flat-topped wedge like Frank's. His face was angular and brutal, marked with old knife scars. His eyes were covered with infrared goggles that glowed from inside. He wore a utility belt with a sidearm, a knife holster, and several grenades. In his hands was an oversized M16 rifle.

The worst thing was that Frank felt drawn to him. As everyone else stepped back, Frank stepped forward. He realized the soldier was silently willing him to approach.

Frank desperately wanted to run away and hide, but he couldn't. He took three more steps. Then he sank to one knee.

The other campers followed his example and knelt. Even Reyna dismounted.

"That's good," the soldier said. "Kneeling is good. It's been a long time since I've visited Camp Jupiter."

Frank noticed that one person wasn't kneeling. Percy Jackson, his sword still in hand, was glaring at the giant soldier.

"You're Ares," Percy said. "What do you want?"

A collective gasp went up from two hundred campers and an elephant. Frank wanted to say something to excuse Percy and placate the god, but he didn't know what. He was afraid the war god would blast his new friend with that extra-large M16.

Instead, the god bared his brilliant white teeth.

"You've got spunk, demigod," he said. "Ares is my Greek form. But to these followers, to the children of Rome, I am Mars—patron of the empire, divine father of Romulus and Remus."

"We've met," Percy said. "We…we had a fight.…"

The god scratched his chin, as if trying to recall. "I fight a lot of people. But I assure you—you've never fought me as Mars. If you had, you'd be dead. Now, kneel, as befits a child of Rome, before you try my patience."

Around Mars's feet, the ground boiled in a circle of flame.

"Percy," Frank said, "please."

Percy clearly didn't like it, but he knelt.

"Hello Mars, Death hasn't completely lost its hold, its only slipped a bit." Ariella called out.

"I had thought that you were sent away when you joined the enemy in the last war?" Mars growled at her

"Oh, I was, but i'm not actually here, only my conscious is. My body is still where the other gods sent me." She explained.

"Ah, so why aren't you off collecting souls and not here?" Mars demands

"Oh, I am there are 99 others of me collecting souls as we speak. But I'm here to try to find Father. I won't be interfering with anything, only trying to find him and update him on everything that has happened." Ariella says.

"Then it seems that I must get back to giving that quest to the Romans." Mars says

Mars scanned the crowd. "Romans, lend me your ears!" He laughed—a good, hearty bellow, so infectious it almost made Frank smile, though he was still shivering with fear. "I've always wanted to say that. I come from Olympus with a message. Jupiter doesn't like us communicating directly with mortals, especially nowadays, but he has allowed this exception, as you Romans have always been my special people. I'm only permitted to speak for a few minutes, so listen up."

He pointed at Gwen. "This one should be dead, yet she's not. The monsters you fight no longer return to Tartarus when they are slain. Some mortals who died long ago are now walking the earth again."

Was it Frank's imagination, or did the god glare at Nico di Angelo?

"Thanatos has been chained," Mars announced. "The Doors of Death have been forced open, and no one is policing them—at least, not impartially. Gaea allows our enemies to pour forth into the world of mortals. Her sons the giants are mustering armies against you—armies that you will not be able to kill. Unless Death is unleashed to return to his duties, you will be overrun. You must find Thanatos and free him from the giants. Only he can reverse the tide."

Mars looked around, and noticed that everyone was still silently kneeling. "Oh, you can get up now. Any questions?"

Reyna rose uneasily. She approached the god, followed by Octavian, who was bowing and scraping like a champion groveler.

"Lord Mars," Reyna said, "we are honored."

"Beyond honored," said Octavian. "So far beyond honored—"

"Well?" Mars snapped.

"Well," Reyna said, "Thanatos is the god of death, the lieutenant of Pluto?"

"Right," the god said.

"And you're saying that he's been captured by giants."

"Right."

"And therefore people will stop dying?"

"Not all at once," Mars said. "But the barriers between life and death will continue to weaken. Those who know how to take advantage of this will exploit it. Monsters are already harder to dispatch. Soon they will be completely impossible to kill. Some demigods will also be able to find their way back from the Underworld—like your friend Centurion Shishkebab."

Gwen winced. "Centurion Shish kebab?"

"If left unchecked," Mars continued, "even mortals will eventually find it impossible to die. Can you imagine a world in which no one dies—ever?"

Octavian raised his hand. "But, ah, mighty all-powerful Lord Mars, if we can't die, isn't that a good thing? If we can stay alive indefinitely—"

"Don't be foolish, boy!" Mars bellowed. "Endless slaughter with no conclusion? Carnage without any point? Enemies that rise again and again and can never be killed? Is that what you want?"

"You're the god of war," Percy spoke up. "Don't you want endless carnage?"

Mars's infrared goggles glowed brighter. "Insolent, aren't you? Perhaps I have fought you before. I can understand why I'd want to kill you. I'm the god of Rome, child. I am the god of military might used for a righteous cause. I protect the legions. I am happy to crush my enemies underfoot, but I don't fight without reason. I don't want war without end.

You will discover this. You will serve me."

"Not likely," Percy said.

Again, Frank waited for the god to strike him down, but Mars just grinned like they were two old buddies talking trash.

"I order a quest!" the god announced. "You will go north and find Thanatos in the land beyond the gods. You will free him and thwart the plans of the giants. Beware Gaea! Beware her son, the eldest giant!"

Next to Frank, Hazel made a squeaking sound. "The land beyond the gods?"

Mars stared down at her, his grip tightening on his M16. "That's right, Hazel Levesque. You know what I mean. Everyone here remembers the land where the legion lost its honor! Perhaps if the quest succeeds, and you return by the Feast of Fortuna…perhaps then your honor will be restored. If you don't succeed, there won't be any camp left to return to. Rome will be overrun, its legacy lost forever. So my advice is: Don't fail."

Octavian somehow managed to bow even lower. "Um, Lord Mars, just one tiny thing. A quest requires a prophecy, a mystical poem to guide us! We used to get them from the Sibylline books, but now it's up to the augur to glean the will of gods. So if I could just run and get about seventy stuffed animals and possibly a knife—"

"You're the augur?" the god interrupted.

"Y-yes, my lord."

Mars pulled a scroll from his utility belt. "Anyone got a pen?"

The legionnaires stared at him.

Mars sighed. "Two hundred Romans, and no one's got a pen? Never mind!"

He slung his M16 onto his back and pulled out a hand grenade. There were many screaming Romans. Then the grenade morphed into a ballpoint pen, and Mars began to write.

Frank looked at Percy with wide eyes. He mouthed: Can your sword do grenade form?

Percy mouthed back, No. Shut up.

"There!" Mars finished writing and threw the scroll at Octavian. "A prophecy. You can add it to your books, engrave it on your floor, whatever."

Octavian read the scroll. "This says, 'Go to Alaska. Find Thanatos and free him. Come back by sundown on June twenty-fourth or die.'"

"Yes," Mars said. "Is that not clear?"

"Well, my lord…usually prophecies are unclear. They're wrapped in riddles. They rhyme, and…"

Mars casually popped another grenade off his belt. "Yes?"

"The prophecy is clear!" Octavian announced. "A quest!"

"Good answer." Mars tapped the grenade to his chin.

"Ah and Ariella, you might want to go check on your friends they are getting worried. Also _don't_ interfere with this quest. They will find your father, but you can't do anything to help them. Meet them in the north, have the shadows give you updates until they find him. Until then you don't go near them on their quest. Understood?" Mars orders.

"Understood." Ariella replies with a bow.

 **Hope you like it! Please REVIEW!**


	7. Chapter 7

**So since these are some of my first fanfictions I'm trying to stick to a story line and add my own character in with it. If any of you who are reading this don't like how I write my story, then sorry but this is how I'm writing this story. But to those who like my stories so far. Thank You!**

 **Disclaimer: I down own PJO or Harry Potter, I only own my OC!**

-At Hogwarts, during dinner-

Ariella's POV ( one of the ones sent to find souls)

I appear in big room where many brilliant and bright living souls are gathered. My eyes unseeing to them though, I only see the soul I have come for. One that has stayed to long and has caused to much trouble for the living. I find the soul I am looking for, it is in the corner causing more trouble. I lift my left hand and the shadows rush towards the soul, binds him and brings him to soul starts to scream and plead with me, drawing the attention of the living souls in the room.

"You have been here to long, causing to much trouble. It is time to move on and leave." I tell the soul as I point my scythe at it.

I turn, my dress swishing around my ankles, and walk through the living, dragging the bound soul with me while he continues to scream and beg.

"Wait." I hear behind me.

I turn to look at the speaker, my black eyes flashing, I was supposed to get the soul and leave.

"You aren't supposed to take the ghost from Hogwarts." A very old man says.

"I am supposed to collect the souls of the dead. This soul has stayed to long among the living, its time for it to leave and move on." I reply emotionless.

"You promised that the ghost here would not be taken to the underworld." said the very old man

"Then I will not take the soul, but he will not bother the living again." I say emotionless, as I place the blade of my scythe at the soul's throat.

"Ariella! What are you doing?!" I hear a male voice shout behind me.

I freeze and slowly turn to see Draco, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Luna, standing behind me. My eyes slowly turn back to normal as I look at them, ans I suddenly realize where I

am. I look down at the soul that I have bound at my feet to see Peeves, whimpering and begging still.

"I did not realize where I was, only that I had a soul to take." I say as I look back at them.

"Where have you been for the past few weeks? Its almost time for OWLS!" Hermione exclaims.

"Its been weeks? But it's only felt like a few days!" I exclaim as I finally remove the blade from Peeves's throat.

"Can you give us an update since you've been gone so long?" Professor Dumbledore said, when I realized that he was the very old man from earlier.

"We have been trying to keep up with all the souls, but there are so many. The human souls are the easiest, but demigod souls are harder. We've already had a few come back.

A quest has been sent to find Father, so he should be found soon and then Ariella should wake, though of course she'll also pass out for at least 2 days afterward." I say

"What?!" all my friends shout.

"Well what would you expect? The first time she used her shadow form for 12 hours she passed out for 5 hours right before the war started. What do you think would happen if Ariella used her power unstop for weeks? That she'd just get up and walk it off, no she needs to rest." I question them.

"Okay, that does make sense when you put it that way. But why do you keep saying 'we'?"

"I say 'we' because there is currently 100 Ariellas around the world and we are all from Ariella's conscious. So to say 'I' is kind of weird."I tell them.

"Oh, so Ariella should wake up in a few days and then pass out again?" Draco asks

"Yes in 3 days she should wake." I tell them. "When she is about to wake, all of us will appear and go to her, but until then I need to go and collect some more souls. Hades is having a hard time collecting the souls while Father is missing and Ariella is not a god. So she won't have the strength to keep us here indefinitely, but we are doing the best we can. So I must go. We will all come back in 3 days time." I tell them as I disappear in a swirl of shadows, off to collect another soul.

-3 days later, somewhere in Alaska-

Ariella's POV (the one in armor looking for Thanatos)

I have been following Percy and his friends on their quest, though I have been careful to make sure that they don't know that I am here. I have follow them to an abandoned Roman camp. I stand in the shadows of one of the buildings and stop the figure at the same time as Percy, Frank, and Hazel do, though I make sure to stand close enough that I can hear what they are saying.

"Thanatos," Hazel murmured.

"We've got you," he promised. "Nobody's taking you away."

"I'm all right," she lied.

Percy looked around uneasily. "No defenders? No giant? This has to be a trap."

"Obviously," Frank said. "But I don't think we have a choice."

They stopped ten feet from the robed figure.

"Hello?" Hazel forced out the word. "Mr. Death?"

The hooded figure raised his head.

Instantly, the whole camp stirred to life. Figures in Roman armor emerged from the barracks, the principia, the armory, and the canteen, but they weren't human. They were shades—the chattering ghosts Hazel had lived with for decades in the Fields of Asphodel. Their bodies weren't much more than wisps of black vapor, but they managed to hold together sets of scale armor, greaves, and helmets. Frost-covered swords were strapped to their waists. Pila and dented shields floated in their smoky hands. The plumes on the centurions' helmets were frozen and ragged. Most of the shades were on foot, but two soldiers burst out of the stables in a golden chariot pulled by ghostly black steeds.

Frank gripped his bow. "Yep, here's the trap."

"Thanatos!" Hazel turned to the robed figure. "We're here to rescue you. If you control these shades, tell them—"

"Oh," she said in a small voice.

The god's wrists were shackled in icy manacles, with chains that ran straight into the glacier floor. His feet were bare, shackled around the ankles and also chained.

"It's Cupid," Frank said.

"A really buff Cupid," Percy agreed.

"You compliment me," Thanatos said. His voice was as gorgeous as he was—deep and melodious. "I am frequently mistaken for the god of love. Death has more in common with Love than you might imagine. But I am Death. I assure you."

"We're—we're here to save you," she managed. "Where's Alcyoneus?"

"Save me…?" Thanatos narrowed his eyes. "Do you understand what you are saying, Hazel Levesque? Do you understand what that will mean?"

Percy stepped forward. "We're wasting time."

He swung his sword at the god's chains. Celestial bronze rang against the ice, but Riptide stuck to the chain like glue. Frost began creeping up the blade. Percy pulled frantically. Frank ran to help. Together, they just managed to yank Riptide free before the frost reached their hands.

"That won't work," Thanatos said simply. "As for the giant, he is close. These shades are not mine. They are his."

Thanatos's eyes scanned the ghost soldiers. They shifted uncomfortably, as if an arctic wind were rattling through their ranks.

"So how do we get you out?" Hazel demanded.

Thanatos turned his attention back to her. "Daughter of Pluto, child of my master, you of all people should not wish me released."

"Don't you think I know that?" Hazel demanded

"Listen, Death." She drew her cavalry sword, and her horse reared in defiance. "I didn't come back from the Underworld and travel thousands of miles to be told that I'm stupid for setting you free. If I die, I die. I'll fight this whole army if I have to. Just tell us how to break your chains."

Thanatos studied her for a heartbeat. "Interesting. You do understand that these shades were once demigods like you. They fought for Rome. They died without completing their heroic quests. Like you, they were sent to Asphodel. Now Gaea has promised them a second life if they fight for her today. Of course, if you release me and defeat them, they will have to return to the Underworld where they belong. For treason against the gods, they will face eternal punishment. They are not so different from you, Hazel Levesque. Are you sure you want to release me and damn these souls forever?"

Frank clenched his fists. "That's not fair! Do you want to be freed or not?"

"Fair…" Death mused. "You'd be amazed how often I hear that word, Frank Zhang, and how meaningless it is. Is it fair that your life will burn so short and bright? Was it fair when I guided your mother to the Underworld?"

Frank staggered like he'd been punched.

"No," Death said sadly. "Not fair. And yet it was her time. There is no fairness in Death. If you free me, I will do my duty. But of course these shades will try to stop you."

"So if we let you go," Percy summed up, "we get mobbed by a bunch of black vapor dudes with gold swords. Fine. How do we break those chains?"

Thanatos smiled. "Only the fire of life can melt the chains of death."

"Without the riddles, please?" Percy asked.

Frank drew a shaky breath. "It isn't a riddle."

"Frank, no," Hazel said weakly. "There's got to be another way."

Laughter boomed across the glacier. A rumbling voice said: "My friends. I've waited so long!"

Standing at the gates of the camp was Alcyoneus. He had metallic golden skin, armor made from platinum links, and an iron staff the size of a totem pole. His rust-red dragon legs pounded against the ice as he entered the camp. Precious stones glinted in his red braided hair.

"Ah, Hazel Levesque," he said, "you cost me dearly! If not for you, I would have risen decades ago, and this world would already be Gaea's. But no matter!"

He spread his hands, showing off the ranks of ghostly soldiers. "Welcome, Percy Jackson! Welcome, Frank Zhang! I am Alcyoneus, the bane of Pluto, the new master of Death. And this is your new legion."

I started to laugh quietly at first, but then growing louder as Percy, Hazel, Frank, Thanatos, and Alcyoneus turned to look to where I was standing. I step forward into the light so that they can see me.

"You really think that you are the new master of Death? I am the new Death incarnate, the souls are still being gathered as we speak. You can never truly chain Death." I tell them.

"Who are you?" Alcyoneus demands, raising his sword to try to kill her.

"I am Death's daughter, and you won't be able to harm me even if you try." I say as he swipes his sword through me.

"How can I not kill you?!" Alcyoneus bellows at me.

"You can't hit me because I am nothing more than a ghost." I say

"Have you died Ariella?" Thanatos asks me, sounding sad.

"Oh, no I still live. Though it will be easier to explain when I return to my body. So please free Thanatos and kill Alcyoneus." I say to Percy and his friends. I step back into the shadows so that they can't see me.

"Hazel." He tried to keep his voice steady. "That package you're keeping for me? I need it."

Hazel glanced at him in dismay. "Frank, no. There has to be another way."

"Please. I—I know what I'm doing."

Thanatos smiled and lifted his manacled wrists. "You're right, Frank Zhang. Sacrifices must be made."

The giant Alcyoneus stepped forward, his reptilian feet shaking the ground. "What package do you speak of, Frank Zhang? Have you brought me a present?"

"Nothing for you, Golden Boy," Frank said. "Except a whole lot of pain."

The giant roared with laughter. "Spoken like a child of Mars! Too bad I have to kill you. And this one...my, my, I've been waiting to meet the famous Percy Jackson."

"I've followed your progress, son of Neptune," said Alcyoneus. "Your fight with Kronos? Well done. Gaea hates you above all others…except perhaps for that upstart Jason Grace. I'm sorry I can't kill you right away, but my brother Polybotes wishes to keep you as a pet. He thinks it will be amusing when he destroys Neptune to have the god's favorite son on a leash. After that, of course, Gaea has plans for you."

"Yeah, flattering." Percy raised Riptide. "But actually I'm the son of Poseidon. I'm from Camp Half-Blood."

The ghosts stirred. Some drew swords and lifted shields. Alcyoneus raised his hand, gesturing for them to wait.

"Greek, Roman, it doesn't matter," the giant said easily. "We will crush both camps underfoot. You see, the Titans didn't think big enough. They planned to destroy the godsin their new home of America. We giants know better! To kill a weed, you must pull up its roots. Even now, while my forces destroy your little Roman camp, my brother Porphyrionis preparing for the real battle in the ancient lands! We will destroy the gods at their source."

The ghosts pounded their swords against their shields. The sound echoed across the mountains.

"The source?" Frank asked. "You mean Greece?"

Alcyoneus chuckled. "No need to worry about that, son of Mars. You won't live long enough to see our ultimate victory.

I will replace Pluto as lord of the Underworld. I already have Death in my custody. With Hazel Levesque in my service, I will have all the riches under the earth as well!"

Hazel gripped her spatha. "I don't do service."

"Oh, but you gave me life!" Alcyoneus said. "True, we hoped to awaken Gaea during World War II. That would've been glorious. But really, the world is in almost as bad a shape now. Soon, your civilization will be wiped out. The Doors of Death will stand open. Those who serve us will never perish. Alive or dead, you three will join my army."

Percy shook his head. "Fat chance, Golden Boy. You're going down."

"Wait." Hazel spurred her horse toward the giant. "I raised this monster from the earth. I'm the daughter of Pluto. It's my place to kill him."

"Ah, little Hazel." Alcyoneus planted his staff on the ice. His hair glittered with millions of dollars' worth of gems. "Are you sure you will not join us of your own free will? You could be quite ... precious to us. Why die again?" Hazel's eyes flashed with anger. She looked down at Frank and pulled the wrapped-up piece of firewood from her coat.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he said.

She pursed her lips. "You're my best friend, too, Frank. I should have told you that." She tossed him the stick. "Do what you have to. And Percy…can you protect him?"

Percy gazed at the ranks of ghostly Romans. "Against a small army? Sure, no problem."

"Then I've got Golden Boy," Hazel said.

She charged the giant.

"Good," Thanatos said. "Very good, Frank Zhang."

"Watch your fire, boy," Death warned. "You don't have any to waste."

Finally, Death's last chain snapped. With a desperate yelp, Frank jabbed his firewood into a pile of snow and extinguished the flame. His pain faded. He was still alive. But when he took out the piece of tinder, it was no more than a stub, smaller than a candy bar.

Thanatos raised his arms.

"Free," he said with satisfaction.

"Great." Frank blinked the spots from his eyes. "Then do something!"

Thanatos gave him a calm smile. "Do something? Of course. I will watch. Those who die in this battle will stay dead."

"Thanks," Frank muttered, slipping his firewood into his coat. "Very helpful."

"You're most welcome," Thanatos said agreeably.

"Percy!" Frank yelled. "They can die now!"

I walk out of the shadows towards Thanatos and bow once I reach him.

"Father, you're free!" I exclaim.

"I am." he said. "What did you mean that you are not actually here and that you are the new Death incarnate or that Death can never truly be chained?"

"I will explain, but not right now. I must find the others and we-" I look at Frank and Percy and drop my voice to a whisper. "have to return to Hogwarts. If you can spare a few moments come see me in about 2 days, I'll be able to explain then." I tell him quickly, as my form starts to flicker.

"I'm sorry Father, I have to go. I have held this form for a very long time and it was only supposed to hold until you were found." I explain to him, as I disappear completely.

Professor Dumbledore's POV

I was eating dinner with the rest of the staff when the lights in the hall stated to flicker.

"What do you think is happening?" Asked Professor McGonagall

"I'm not sure, but I believe we will find out in a few moments." I reply. The lights flicker even more as the students start to take notice. The many shows start to form in 9 rows until all of the shadows Ariella had sent out returned to stand in perfect formation, with the shadow in armor in the front.

"Father has been found, and Death has returned to claim the souls. Our job has finished, we came to inform you that Ariella will wake in a few moments. But please allow only her closest friends to see her. She will need rest soon after she awakens." The lead shadow says and walks out of the Great Hall and towards the Hospital Wing, with the other shadows marching behind her.

I stand and all the talking stops and everyone looks at me.

"Draco, Luna, Harry, Hermione, and Ron, you are her closest friends please go to the Hospital Wing, so that you will be there when she wakes. Everyone else your OWLs are coming up soon, so please finish eating quickly so that you can study and finish your homework." I tell everyone and sit back down.

Draco's POV

I walked with the rest of Ariella's friends to the hospital wing, though Harry and his friends were staying as far from me as they could. I think they are still mad that I got Hagrid and his stupid pet in trouble. Well he deserved it the stupid thing bit me! Anyways we enter the Hospital wing to see all of the shadows lined up before Ariella's form on one of the beds. They walked toward her and the shadows surrounding her in a sort of shield shattered and fell away. Each on of the shadows came up and put 2 fingers on her forehead before disappearing. When all the shadows disappeared we waited until she woke.

Ariella's eyes flew open and she gasped as she sat straight up, her hands going straight to her head.

"What happened? I have have so many jumbled memories... How long have I been here. Was Father found?" She starts asking so many questions.

I stepped forward. "Thanatos has returned, you've been almost 2 months, and its almost time for the OWLs to start." I list off to her.

Ariella got up and stepped towards me. "It's really been almost 2 months?" she asked.

"Yes, you've been missed while you weren't here."

"Did you miss me?" She asks

"Possibly." I answer.

"It's a yes or no..." She cuts off as she starts to fall. I rush forward and catch her in my arms. I place her back on her bed so that she can rest for the next few days. As I leave the hospital wing I wonder why she is so light, she felt as if she weighed nothing at all.

 **Hope you like it! You'll eventually find out why people keep commenting on Ariella's weight...**


	8. Chapter 8

**So I couldn't figure out how to add Ariella into the ending of the Harry Potter book 3 so I'm going back to part of the PJO Giants War and then will continue into the Harry Potter book 4. Hope you like the plot twist!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Harry Potter.**

Once again I woke with a gasp, my eyes flying open. I look around and see that the shadows in the room are moving around me. It seems that drawing on my shadows for so long has made it easier to call them even without calling them out loud like usual. I see that there isn't anyone else in the Hospital Wing, so it is either during a class period of during a meal time. I stand up and reach toward a shadow to take me to my room in the Slytherin Dorms.

I shadow travel to my room and make sure that nothing has been changed. I then went to take a shower, clean up and get dressed. I dressed in my normal black shirt, jeans, and combat boots. I also wore my black rose necklace and scythe bracelet. I braided my hair and walked out the dorms in search of my friends.

I found them in the Great Hall, apparently diner had started a while ago and it was almost done. I walked over and sat down next to them.

"So how's life been while I've been out of it?" I ask them

"Ariella, you woke up again!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah, I got up a little bit ago. So what's been going on?" I ask again.

"Well Hagrid has a trail coming up soon.

" Hermione said.

"What! What happened?"

"Well Hagrid had a class about hippogriffs and he told everyone that we had to respect them and Draco didn't." Hermione glares at Draco. " So Draco git bitten. He told his father who is part of the ministry and his father called for a trial."

"Draco, how could you?" I exclaim

"I couldn't use my arm for a week!" He says

"Yes, you could! You were just faking!" Exclaims Harry.

"No I wasn't! It really hurt."

"Yes, you were! Even madam pomfrey couldn't find anything wrong with your arm!"

"Both of you stop!" I say loudly and they both turn to look at me, the lights start flickering in the room. They notice and look at me.

"It's not me this time. I swear." I say.

The lights flicker more and a shadows start swirling and forming a figure at the bottom of the professor's table. The shadows slowly solidified into a tall man in black pants, a hooded cloak, black wings and a black scythe.

"Father!" I breathe. I stand up and Sprint toward him, throwing my arms around him, my wings also closing around him like a cocoon. Suddenly I remember just who I am giving a hug to. I rush back and bow with one knee on the ground.

"My lord." I say.

"Rise, daughter. I have come for the information you promised me 2 days ago." Thanatos said, sounding amused.

I stand straight up with my wings folded on my back and start to explain.

" I had heard rumors of a very old spell in case you were ever to go missing or to be taken. I was albe to transfer my conscious to my shadows. I was then able to send out the shadows hold my conscious to collect souls while you could not. A few of my shadows remained and kept a shield around my body while I was not using it. I became Death incarnate while you were unable to collect the souls." I explain.

"I had been missing for almost 2 months, you were able to maintain your shadows for that long?" Thanatos asks.

"Yes."

"Interesting, your control and power is growing faster than I thought. It will be useful in the war." He says

"War? Another one?" I ask, confused.

"Yes. Gaea has started to wake. She has made the Giants wake and they will kill the Olympians. The gods are warring with themselves as their Greek and Roman decendents are going to war. You will need your power to protect them until the others arrive." Thanatos explains.

"What of my punishment from the last war? I cannot protect them if I am stuck here protecting a boy that from what I've heard, is very capable of protecting himself." I question.

"Your punishment has been suspended for now, you will need to return to this school next year to finish your punishment. But for now you are needed in the war." He says.

"Where am I to go and when am I to leave?" I ask.

"You have 10 minutes to gather your things and say goodbye to your friends." He pulls a shadow from the air and puts it on the floor. "When you are done, just into the shadow preferably with your wings spread. It will even out your fall and make the landing smoother. Make sure to tell them that I sent you." Thanatos commands.

"Yes, my Lord. It will be done." I bow my head. Father turns away and vanishes in a swirling of shadows.

I only then realize that everyone in the room had been watching what just happened.

"I will be back in 2 minutes." I say as I step into a shadow.

I step out of the shadow and quickly gather some of my clothes and put them in a duffel bag and place them near a shadow so that I can grab it later. I then step into another shadow and shadow travel back to the Great Hall.

" 'My lord?' Really?" Draco asked.

"I might be hid daughter, but he is still a good and that requires some respect." I tell them.

"You really have to leave?" Luna asks quietly.

"I do. I have been called to war. I have more control now, so I will be needed, especially if it is against the 12th legion."

"12th legion?" Hermione asks curious.

"There are Greek demigods who carry on the Greek culture so there are also Roman demigods and they to carry on the Roman culture. The Romans will have better soldiers to fight than the Greeks, that is why I will be needed." I explain. I say goodbye to everyone and step towards the shadow on the floor.

"Professors and students, I would appreciate if you could make sure that no one knows of my being here. I will know if you tell anyone." I call loudly out to everyone.

"And how exactly would you know?" Professor Snape demands.

"The shadows of course." I say. I press my black rose necklace and my black armor unfolds including my helmet. I spread my wings and jump into the shadow.

 **Hope you like it! Please REVIEW!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Harry Potter!**

Annabeth's POV

The praetor Reyna straightened. With apparent reluctance, she turned toward Jason.

"Jason Grace, my former colleague…" She spoke the word colleague like it was a dangerous thing. "I welcome you home. And these, your friends—"

Annabeth didn't mean to, but she surged forward. Percy rushed toward her at the same time. The crowd tensed. Some reached for swords that weren't there.

Percy threw his arms around her. They kissed, and for a moment nothing else mattered. An asteroid could have hit the planet and wiped out all life, and Annabeth wouldn't have cared.

Percy smelled of ocean air. His lips were salty.

Seaweed Brain, she thought giddily.

Percy pulled away and studied her face. "Gods, I never thought—"

Annabeth grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her shoulder. He slammed into the stone pavement. Romans cried out. Some surged forward, but Reyna shouted, "Hold! Stand down!"

Annabeth put her knee on Percy's chest. She pushed her forearm against his throat. She didn't care what the Romans thought. A white-hot lump of anger expanded in her chest—a tumor of worry and bitterness that she'd been carrying around since last autumn.

"If you ever leave me again," she said, her eyes stinging, "I swear to all the gods—"

Percy had the nerve to laugh. Suddenly the lump of heated emotions melted inside Annabeth.

"Consider me warned," Percy said. "I missed you, too."

Annabeth rose and helped him to his feet. She wanted to kiss him again so badly, but she managed to restrain herself.

Jason cleared his throat. "So, yeah.…It's good to be back."

He introduced Reyna to Piper, who looked a little miffed that she hadn't gotten to say the lines she'd been practicing, then to Leo, who grinned and flashed a peace sign.

"And this is Annabeth," Jason said. "Uh, normally she doesn't judo-flip people."

Reyna's eyes sparkled. "You sure you're not a Roman, Annabeth? Or an Amazon?"

Annabeth didn't know if that was a compliment, but she held out her hand. "I only attack my boyfriend like that," she promised. "Pleased to meet you."

Reyna clasped her hand firmly. "It seems we have a lot to discuss. Centurions!"

At that moment something black fell from the sky and landed between the Romans and Greeks.  
"Weapons are not allowed on Roman soil inside the Pomerian Line." shouted Terminus as he appeared.  
"I'm not a weapon and I'll give you my weapons if you stop shouting." The figure growls from the ground.  
" Weapons are not allowed in the city! And you are a weapon!" Terminus shouts again.  
"I am not a weapon! I've been sent to protect them!" The figure says in a female voice. She stands up and taps her wrist and a black scythe appears in her hand.  
All of the Greek demigods rushed backwards, remembering Kronos with his scythe.  
"Who are you?" Reyna demands.  
"Jeez, who forgot so easily? I was here when Percy was given his quest by Mars." She says. She throws her scythe into a shadow and it disappears. "Happy Terminus? Now I don't have a weapon. So go away." He grumbles to himself and disappears in a poof.  
"Wait, Ariella? Is that you, are you here to collect another soul?" Percy asks sound confused.  
"No, you freed Father so that is no longer my job." She says.  
"Ariella? I thought you were being punished by the gods?" I ask.  
"My punishment has been put on hold because there will be no reason to if the gods don't survive this war anyways." She explains.  
She then notices the Centurions.  
"Nice to see you again Frank, Hazel. It seem you survived the quest. I'm sorry I couldn't help you, but I wasn't permitted to." She says. "Anyways please continue talking about not attacking each other and all that before I fell from the sky."

Meanwhile, Reyna had started giving orders to her officers. "…tell the legion to stand down. Dakota, alert the spirits in the kitchen. Tell them to prepare a welcome feast. And, Octavian—"

"You're letting these intruders into the camp?" A tall guy with stringy blond hair elbowed his way forward. "Reyna, the security risks—"

"We're not taking them to the camp, Octavian." Reyna flashed him a stern look. "We'll eat here, in the forum."

"Oh, much better," Octavian grumbled. He seemed to be the only one who didn't defer to Reyna as his superior, despite the fact that he was scrawny and pale and for some reason had three teddy bears hanging from his belt. "You want us to relax in the shadow of their warship."  
"I can make sure you don't see the warship if you want" Ariella interjects

"These are our guests." Reyna clipped off every word. "We will welcome them, and we will talk to them. As augur, you should burn an offering to thank the gods for bringing Jason back to us safely."

"Good idea," Percy put in. "Go burn your bears, Octavian."

Reyna looked like she was trying not to smile. "You have my orders. Go."

The officers dispersed. Octavian shot Percy a look of absolute loathing. Then he gave Annabeth a suspicious once-over and stalked away.

Percy slipped his hand into Annabeth's. "Don't worry about Octavian," he said. "Most of the Romans are good people—like Frank and Hazel here, and Reyna. We'll be fine."

Annabeth felt as if someone had draped a cold washcloth across her neck. She heard that whispering laughter again, as if the presence had followed her from the ship.

She looked up at the Argo II. Its massive bronze hull glittered in the sunlight. Part of her wanted to kidnap Percy right now, climb on board, and get out of here while they still could.  
"Can you really make the warship vanish?" Percy asks Ariella.  
"Of course, but you'll need to have some lights everywhere. Want me to show you?" She asks.  
"Sure."  
She steps away and points at her shadow. I gasp as it stands up and walks in front of her, looking like it's waiting for orders.  
" Gather other shadows and encase the barrier around the city in shadows blocking the warship from view. Make sure to not bother Terminus." She commands. The shadow shoots up into the air and other shadows begin to block the view of the ship.

Percy and I gave at her as she turns around smirking at us.  
"What?! But-No. You can't. Don't do that! Stop it!" Percy says frantic.  
"Fine. Shadows, stop and return to me. I will be waiting in the shadows if you need me." She informs us and vanishes from sight along with her shadows.

Ariella's POV  
"We should talk about the Great Prophecy. It sounds like the Romans are aware of it too?"

Reyna nodded. "We call it the Prophecy of Seven. Octavian, you have it committed to memory?"

"Of course," he said. "But, Reyna—"

"Recite it, please. In English, not Latin."

Octavian sighed. "Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall—"

"An oath to keep with a final breath," Annabeth continued. "And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."

Everyone stared at her—except for Leo, who had constructed a pinwheel out of aluminum foil taco wrappers and was sticking it into passing wind spirits.

Frank sat forward, staring at her. "Is it true you're a child of Min—I mean, Athena?"

"Yes," she said, suddenly feeling defensive. "Why is that such a surprise?"

Octavian scoffed. "If you're truly a child of the wisdom goddess—"

"Enough," Reyna snapped. "Annabeth is what she says. She's here in peace. Besides…" She gave Annabeth a look of grudging respect. "Percy has spoken highly of you."

"Uh, thanks," she told Reyna. "At any rate, some of the prophecy is becoming clear. Foes bearing arms to the Doors of Death…that means Romans and Greeks. We have to combine forces to find those doors."

"My brother, Nico, went looking for the doors," she said.

"Wait," Annabeth said. "Nico di Angelo? He's your brother?"

Hazel nodded as if this were obvious. A dozen more questions crowded into Annabeth's head, but it was already spinning like Leo's pinwheel. She decided to let the matter go. "Okay. You were saying?"

"He disappeared." Hazel moistened her lips. "I'm afraid…I'm not sure, but I think something's happened to him."  
"Why wasn't I told of this until now?" Ariella demands as she reappears.

"Why would you need to know?" Sneers Octavian.  
"Really? The son of my father's master is missing. I could have had every shadow around the world keeping a lookout for him if I had known sooner!" She exclaims.

"We'll look for him," Percy promised before Octavian could respond. "We have to find the Doors of Death anyway. Thanatos told us we'd find both answers in Rome—like, the original Rome. That's on the way to Greece, right?"

"Thanatos told you this?" Annabeth asked. "The death god?"

Percy took a bite of his burger. "Now that Death is free, monsters will disintegrate and return to Tartarus again like they used to. But as long as the Doors of Death are open, they'll just keep coming back."

Piper twisted the feather in her hair. "Like water leaking through a dam," she suggested.

"Yeah." Percy smiled. "We've got a dam hole."

"What?" Piper asked.

"Nothing," he said. "Inside joke. The point is we'll have to find the doors and close them before we can head to Greece. It's the only way we'll stand a chance of defeating the giants and making sure they stay defeated."

"I can help find the doors." I say.

Reyna plucked an apple from a passing fruit tray. She turned it in her fingers, studying the dark red surface. "You propose an expedition to Greece in your warship. You do realize that the ancient lands—and the Mare Nostrum—are dangerous?"

"Mary who?" Leo asked.

"Mare Nostrum," Jason explained. "Our Sea. It's what the Ancient Romans called the Mediterranean."

Reyna nodded. "The territory that was once the Roman Empire is not only the birthplace of the gods. It's also the ancestral home of the monsters, Titans and giants…and worse things. As dangerous as travel is for demigods here in America, there it would be ten times worse."

"You said Alaska would be bad," Percy reminded her. "We survived that."

Reyna shook her head. Her fingernails cut little crescents into the apple as she turned it. "Percy, traveling in the Mediterranean is a different level of danger altogether. It's been off limits to Roman demigods for centuries. No hero in his right mind would go there."

"Then we're good!" Leo grinned over the top of his pinwheel. "Because we're all crazy, right? Besides, the Argo II is a top-of-the-line warship. She'll get us through."

"We'll have to hurry," Jason added. "I don't know exactly what the giants are planning, but Gaea is growing more conscious all the time. She's invading dreams, appearing in weird places, summoning more and more powerful monsters. We have to stop the giants before they can wake her up fully."

"Seven half-bloods must answer the call," she said. "It needs to be a mix from both our camps. Jason, Piper, Leo, and me. That's four."

"And me," Percy said. "Along with Hazel and Frank. That's seven."

"What?" Octavian shot to his feet. "We're just supposed to accept that? Without a vote in the senate? Without a proper debate? Without—"

"Percy!" Tyson the Cyclops bounded toward them with Mrs. O'Leary at his heels. On the hellhound's back sat the skinniest harpy I had ever seen—a sickly-looking girl with stringy red hair, a sackcloth dress, and red-feathered wings.

Tyson stopped by their couch and wrung his meaty hands. His big brown eye was full of concern. "Ella is scared," he said.

"N-n-no more boats," the harpy muttered to herself, picking furiously at her feathers. "Titanic, Lusitania, Pax…boats are not for harpies."

Leo squinted. He looked at Hazel, who was seated next to him. "Did that chicken girl just compare my ship to the Titanic?"

"She's not a chicken." Hazel averted her eyes, as if Leo made her nervous. "Ella's a harpy. She's just a little…high-strung."

"Ella is pretty," Tyson said. "And scared. We need to take her away, but she will not go on the ship."

"No ships," Ella repeated. She looked straight at Annabeth. "Bad luck. There she is. Wisdom's daughter walks alone—"

"Ella!" Frank stood suddenly. "Maybe it's not the best time—"

"The Mark of Athena burns through Rome," Ella continued, cupping her hands over her ears and raising her voice. "Twins snuff out the angel's breath, Who holds the key to endless death. Giants' bane stands gold and pale, Won through pain from a woven jail."

The effect was like someone dropping a flash grenade on the table. Everyone stared at the harpy. No one spoke.

Around them, the sounds of the feast continued, but muted and distant, as if their little cluster of couches had slipped into a quieter dimension.

Percy was the first to recover. He stood and took Tyson's arm.

"I know!" he said with feigned enthusiasm. "How about you take Ella to get some fresh air? You and Mrs. O'Leary—"

"Hold on." Octavian gripped one of his teddy bears, strangling it with shaking hands. His eyes fixed on Ella. "What was that she said? It sounded like—"

"Ella reads a lot," Frank blurted out. "We found her at a library."

"Yes!" Hazel said. "Probably just something she read in a book."

"Books," Ella muttered helpfully. "Ella likes books."

Now that she'd said her piece, the harpy seemed more relaxed. She sat cross-legged on Mrs. O'Leary's back, preening her wings.

Annabeth gave Percy a curious glance. Obviously, he and Frank and Hazel were hiding something. Just as obviously, Ella had recited a prophecy—a prophecy that concerned her.

Percy's expression said, Help.

"That was a prophecy," Octavian insisted. "It sounded like a prophecy."

"Was it about Nico? If it was and none you does anything and he dies, then I hope you enjoy the sun while it lasts." I threaten.

She forced a laugh. "Really, Octavian? Maybe harpies are different here, on the Roman side. Ours have just enough intelligence to clean cabins and cook lunches. Do yours usually foretell the future? Do you consult them for your auguries? And Ariella there is not need for threats."

Her words had the intended effect. The Roman officers laughed nervously. Some sized up Ella, then looked at Octavian and snorted. The idea of a chicken lady issuing prophecies was apparently just as ridiculous to Romans as it was to Greeks.

"I, uh…" Octavian dropped his teddy bear. "No, but—"

"She's just spouting lines from some book," Annabeth said, "like Hazel suggested. Besides, we already have a real prophecy to worry about."

She turned to Tyson. "Percy's right. Why don't you take Ella and Mrs. O'Leary and shadow-travel somewhere for a while. Is Ella okay with that?"

"'Large dogs are good,'" Ella said. "Old Yeller, 1957, screenplay by Fred Gipson and William Tunberg."

"Great!" Percy said. "We'll Iris-message you guys when we're done and catch up with you later."

The Romans looked at Reyna, waiting for her ruling.

Reyna had an excellent poker face. She studied Ella, but Annabeth couldn't guess what she was thinking.

"Fine," the praetor said at last. "Go."

"Yay!" Tyson went around the couches and gave everyone a big hug—even Octavian, who didn't look happy about it. Then he climbed on Mrs. O'Leary's back with Ella, and the hellhound bounded out of the forum. They dove straight into a shadow on the Senate House wall and disappeared.

"Well." Reyna set down her uneaten apple. "Octavian is right about one thing. We must gain the senate's approval before we let any of our legionnaires go on a quest—especially one as dangerous as you're suggesting."

"This whole thing smells of treachery," Octavian grumbled. "That trireme is not a ship of peace!"

"Come aboard, man," Leo offered. "I'll give you a tour. You can steer the boat, and if you're really good I'll give you a little paper captain's hat to wear."

Octavian's nostrils flared. "How dare you—"

"It's a good idea," Reyna said. "Octavian, go with him. See the ship. We'll convene a senate meeting in one hour."

"But…" Octavian stopped. Apparently he could tell from Reyna's expression that further arguing would not be good for his health. "Fine."

"Back soon," Leo promised as he got up. "This is gonna be epic."

The wind spirits began clearing the plates.

"Uh, Reyna," Jason said, "if you don't mind, I'd like to show Piper around before the senate meeting. She's never seen New Rome."

Reyna's expression hardened.

"Of course," Reyna said coldly.

Percy took Annabeth's hand. "Yeah, me, too. I'd like to show Annabeth—"

"No," Reyna snapped.

Percy knit his eyebrows. "Sorry?"

"I'd like a few words with Annabeth," Reyna said. "Alone. If you don't mind, my fellow praetor."

Her tone made it clear she wasn't really asking permission.

-a few minutes later-  
When Annabeth left with Reyna, I went and explored the city. The beautiful, though it was still rebuilding from the battle a few days ago. The lares would shy away from me every time I passed one. Then one of the buildings near me exploded, the Argo II started firing on New Rome.  
I subconsciously started calling all the shadows in the city to me. I ran to a nearby shadow and drew my scythe out of it. All the demigods were shouting in fear as more volleys were shot down by the Argo II. I ran and leaped into the air, all the shadows swirling around me.  
"A few shadows stay with me. The rest protect the city!" I shout and fly as fast as I can toward the warship above the city.  
I land on the deck and see Leo at the helm and Octavian is screaming like a madman at Leo.  
"Bind them both." I order my shadows. I walk toward Leo, grab the back of his shirt and set him in front of the controls.  
"Stop firing on the city. Do it now." I order him, as I place the blade of my scythe at his throat.  
While I was distracted, Octavian somehow managed to escape my shadows and climbed down the rope ladder back to the city.

Annabeth's POV

Annabeth noticed a figure clinging desperately to the rope ladder, trying to climb down. It was Octavian, his robes steaming and his face black with soot.

Over by the fountain, Percy blasted the Roman mob with more water. Annabeth ran toward him, ducking a Roman fist and a flying plate of sandwiches.

"Annabeth!" Percy called. "What—?"

"I don't know!" she yelled.

"I'll tell you what!" cried a voice from above. Octavian had reached the bottom of the ladder. "The Greeks have fired on us! Your boy Leo has trained his weapons on Rome!"

Annabeth's chest filled with liquid hydrogen. She felt like she might shatter into a million frozen pieces.

"You're lying," she said. "Leo would never—"

"I was just there!" Octavian shrieked. "I saw it with my own eyes!"

The Argo II returned fire. Legionnaires in the field scattered as one of their catapults was blasted to splinters.

"You see?" Octavian screamed. "Romans, kill the invaders!"

Annabeth growled in frustration. There was no time for anyone to figure out the truth. The crew from Camp Half-Blood was outnumbered a hundred to one, and even if Octavian had managed to stage some sort of trick (which she thought likely), they'd never be able to convince the Romans before they were overrun and killed.

"We have to leave," she told Percy. "Now."

He nodded grimly. "Hazel, Frank, you've got to make a choice. Are you coming?"

Hazel looked terrified, but she donned her cavalry helmet. "Of course we are. But you'll never make it to the ship unless we buy you some time."

"How?" Annabeth asked.

Hazel whistled. Instantly a blur of beige shot across the forum. A majestic horse materialized next to the fountain. He reared, whinnying and scattering the mob. Hazel climbed on his back like she'd been born to ride. Strapped to the horse's saddle was a Roman cavalry sword.

Hazel unsheathed her golden blade. "Send me an Iris-message when you're safely away, and we'll rendezvous," she said. "Arion, ride!"

The horse zipped through the crowd with incredible speed, pushing back Romans and causing mass panic.

Annabeth felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe they could make it out of here alive. Then, from halfway across the forum, she heard Jason shouting.

"Romans!" he cried. "Please!"

He and Piper were being pelted with plates and stones. Jason tried to shield Piper, but a brick caught him above the eye. He crumpled, and the crowd surged forward.

"Get back!" Piper screamed. Her charmspeak rolled over the mob, making them hesitate, but Annabeth knew the effect wouldn't last. Percy and she couldn't possibly reach them in time to help.

"Frank," Percy said, "it's up to you. Can you help them?"

Annabeth didn't understand how Frank could do that all by himself, but he swallowed nervously.

"Oh, gods," he murmured. "Okay, sure. Just get up the ropes. Now."

Percy and Annabeth lunged for the ladder. Octavian was still clinging to the bottom, but Percy yanked him off and threw him into the mob.

They began to climb as armed legionnaires flooded into the forum. Arrows whistled past Annabeth's head. An explosion almost knocked her off the ladder. Halfway up, she heard a roar below and glanced down.

Romans screamed and scattered as a full-sized dragon charged through the forum—a beast even scarier than the bronze dragon figurehead on the Argo II. It had rough gray skin like a Komodo lizard's and leathery bat wings. Arrows and rocks bounced harmlessly off its hide as it lumbered toward Piper and Jason, grabbed them with its front claws, and vaulted into the air.

"Is that… ?" Annabeth couldn't even put the thought into words.

"Frank," Percy confirmed, a few feet above her. "He has a few special talents."

"Understatement," Annabeth muttered. "Keep climbing!"

Without the dragon and Hazel's horse to distract the archers, they never would have made it up the ladder; but finally they climbed past a row of broken aerial oars and onto the deck. The rigging was on fire. The foresail was ripped down the middle, and the ship listed badly to starboard.

There was no sign of Coach Hedge, but Leo stood amidships, calmly reloading the ballista. Annabeth's gut twisted with horror.

"Ariella!" she screamed. "What are you doing?"

"Protecting the city" She faced Annabeth. Her black helmet looking terrifing, as she held her scythe at Leo's throat. She removed her scythe, but knocked him out instead.

The gray dragon soared into view. It circled the ship once and landed at the bow, depositing Jason and Piper, who both collapsed.

"Go!" Percy yelled. "Get us out of here!"

With a shock, Annabeth realized he was talking to her.

She ran for the helm. She made the mistake of glancing over the rail and saw armed legionnaires closing ranks in the forum, preparing flaming arrows. Hazel spurred Arion, and they raced out of the city with a mob chasing after them. More catapults were being wheeled into range. All along the Pomerian Line, the statues of Terminus were glowing purple, as if building up energy for some kind of attack, though Ariella's shadows we're still trying to defend the city.

Annabeth looked over the controls. She cursed Leo for making them so complicated. No time for fancy maneuvers, but she did know one basic command: Up.

She grabbed the aviation throttle and yanked it straight back. The ship groaned. The bow tilted up at a horrifying angle. The mooring lines snapped, and the Argo II shot into the clouds.

 **Hope you like it! Please Review!**

 **Also a poll:**

 **Should Ariella fall into Tartarus with Annabeth and Percy or be there to help save Nico?**

 **Please answer in a review, thanks!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Harry Potter!**

 **Also this will be one of the last chapters with work directly from the books.**

Leo slumped against the mast. His head still throbbed from that Ariella girl knocking him out. All around him, his beautiful new ship was in shambles. The aft crossbows were piles of kindling. The foresail was tattered. The satellite array that powered the on board Internet and TV was blown to bits, which had really made Coach Hedge mad. Their bronze dragon figurehead, Festus, was coughing up smoke like he had a hairball, and Leo could tell from the groaning sounds on the port side that some of the aerial oars had been knocked out of alignment or broken off completely, which explained why the ship was listing and shuddering as it flew, the engine wheezing like an asthmatic steam train.

He choked back a sob. "I don't know. It's fuzzy."

Too many people were looking at him: Annabeth (Leo hated to make her angry; that girl scared him), Coach Hedge with his furry goat legs, his orange polo shirt, and his baseball bat (did he have to carry that everywhere?), and the newcomer, Frank. And the Ariella girl was still in her armor and holding her scythe and standing in the shadows. (he still didn't know what she looked like, but he remembered her voice as she held her scythe to his throat.)

Leo wasn't sure what to make of Frank. He looked like a baby sumo wrestler, though Leo wasn't stupid enough to say that aloud. Leo's memory was hazy, but while he'd been half conscious, he was pretty sure he'd seen a dragon land on the ship—a dragon that had turned into Frank.

Annabeth crossed her arms. "You mean you don't remember?"

"I…" Leo felt like he was trying to swallow a marble. "I remember, but it's like I was watching myself do things. I couldn't control it."

Coach Hedge tapped his bat against the deck. In his gym clothes, with his cap pulled over his horns, he looked just like he used to at the Wilderness School, where he'd spent a year undercover as Jason, Piper, and Leo's P.E. teacher. The way the old satyr was glowering, Leo almost wondered if the coach was going to order him to do push-ups.

"Look, kid," Hedge said, "you blew up some stuff. You attacked some Romans. Awesome! Excellent! But did you have to knock out the satellite channels? I was right in the middle of watching a cage match."

"Coach," Annabeth said, "why don't you make sure all the fires are out?"

"But I already did that."

"Do it again."

The satyr trudged off, muttering under his breath. Even Hedge wasn't crazy enough to defy Annabeth.

She knelt next to Leo. Her gray eyes were as steely as ball bearings. Her blond hair fell loose around her shoulders, but Leo didn't find that attractive. He had no idea where the stereotype of dumb giggly blondes came from. Ever since he'd met Annabeth at the Grand Canyon last winter, when she'd marched toward him with that Give me Percy Jackson or I'll kill you expression, Leo thought of blondes as much too smart and much too dangerous.

"Leo," she said calmly, "did Octavian trick you somehow? Did he frame you, or—"

"No." Leo could have lied and blamed that stupid Roman, but he didn't want to make a bad situation worse. "The guy was a jerk, but he didn't fire on the camp. I did."

The new kid, Frank, scowled. "On purpose?"

"No!" Leo squeezed his eyes shut. "Well, yes…I mean, I didn't want to. But at the same time, I felt like I wanted to. Something was making me do it. There was this cold feeling inside me—"

"A cold feeling." Annabeth's tone changed. She sounded almost…scared.

"Yeah," Leo said. "Why?"

From belowdecks, Percy called up, "Annabeth, we need you."

Oh, gods, Leo thought. Please let Jason be okay.

As soon as they'd gotten on board, Piper had taken Jason below. The cut on his head had looked pretty bad. Leo had known Jason longer than anyone at Camp Half-Blood. They were best friends. If Jason didn't make it…

"He'll be fine." Annabeth's expression softened. "Frank, I'll be back. Just…watch Leo. Please. And Ariella please don't kill anyone."

Frank and Ariella nodded.

If it was possible for Leo to feel worse, he did. Annabeth now trusted a Roman demigod she'd known for like, three seconds, more than she trusted Leo.

Once she was gone, Leo and Frank stared at each other. The big dude looked pretty odd in his bedsheet toga, with his gray pullover hoodie and jeans, and a bow and quiver from the ship's armory slung over his shoulder. Leo remembered the time he had met the Hunters of Artemis—a bunch of cute lithe girls in silvery clothes, all armed with bows. He imagined Frank frolicking along with them. The idea was so ridiculous, it almost made him feel better.

"So," Frank said. "Your name isn't Sammy?"

Leo scowled. "What kind of question is that?"

"Nothing," Frank said quickly. "I just— Nothing. About the firing on the camp…Octavian could be behind it, like magically or something. He didn't want the Romans getting along with you guys."

Leo wanted to believe that. He was grateful to this kid for not hating him. But he knew it hadn't been Octavian. Leo had walked to a ballista and started firing. Part of him had known it was wrong. He'd asked himself: What the heck am I doing? But he'd done it anyway.

Maybe he was going crazy. The stress of all those months working on the Argo II might've finally made him crack.

But he couldn't think about that. He needed to do something productive. His hands needed to be busy.

"Look," he said, "I should talk to Festus and get a damage report. You mind… ?"

Frank helped him up. "Who is Festus?"

"My friend," Leo said. "His name isn't Sammy either, in case you're wondering. Come on. I'll introduce you."

Fortunately the bronze dragon wasn't damaged. Well, aside from the fact that last winter he'd lost everything except his head—but Leo didn't count that.

When they reached the bow of the ship, the figurehead turned a hundred and eighty degrees to look at them. Frank yelped and backed away.

"It's alive!" he said.

Leo would have laughed if he hadn't felt so bad. "Yeah. Frank, this is Festus. He used to be a full bronze dragon, but we had an accident."

"You have a lot of accidents," Frank noted.

"Well, some of us can't turn into dragons, so we have to build our own." Leo arched his eyebrows at Frank. "Anyway, I revived him as a figurehead. He's kind of the ship's main interface now. How are things looking, Festus?"

Festus snorted smoke and made a series of squeaking, whirring sounds. Over the last few months, Leo had learned to interpret this machine language. Other demigods could understand Latin and Greek. Leo could speak Creak and Squeak.

"Ugh," Leo said. "Could be worse, but the hull is compromised in several places. The port aerial oars have to be fixed before we can go full speed again. We'll need some repair materials: Celestial bronze, tar, lime—"

"What do you need limes for?"

"Dude, lime. Calcium carbonate, used in cement and a bunch of other— Ah, never mind. The point is, this ship isn't going far unless we can fix it."

Festus made another click-creak noise that Leo didn't recognize. It sounded like AY-zuhl.

"Oh…Hazel," he deciphered. "That's the girl with the curly hair, right?"

Frank gulped. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine," Leo said. "According to Festus, her horse is racing along below. She's following us."

"We've got to land, then," Frank said.

Leo studied him. "She's your girlfriend?"

Frank chewed his lip. "Yes."

"You don't sound sure."

"Yes. Yes, definitely. I'm sure."

Leo raised his hands. "Okay, fine. The problem is we can only manage one landing. The way the hull and the oars are, we won't be able to lift off again until we repair, so we'll have to make sure we land somewhere with all the right supplies."

Frank scratched his head. "Where do you get Celestial bronze? You can't just stock up at Home Depot."

"Festus, do a scan."

"He can scan for magic bronze?" Frank marveled. "Is there anything he can't do?"

Leo thought: You should've seen him when he had a body. But he didn't say that. It was too painful, remembering the way Festus used to be.

Leo peered over the ship's bow. The Central California valley was passing below. Leo didn't hold out much hope that they could find what they needed all in one place, but they had to try. Leo also wanted to put as much distance as possible between himself and New Rome. The Argo II could cover vast distances pretty quickly, thanks to its magical engine, but Leo figured the Romans had magic travel methods of their own.

Behind him, the stairs creaked. Percy and Annabeth climbed up, their faces grim.

Leo's heart stumbled. "Is Jason—?"

"He's resting," Annabeth said. "Piper's keeping an eye on him, but he should be fine."

Percy gave him a hard look. "Annabeth says you did fire the ballista?"

"Man, I—I don't understand how it happened. I'm so sorry—"

"Sorry?" Percy growled.

Annabeth put a hand on her boyfriend's chest. "We'll figure it out later. Right now, we have to regroup and make a plan. What's the situation with the ship?"

Leo's legs trembled. The way Percy had looked at him made him feel the same as when Jason summoned lightning. Leo's skin tingled, and every instinct in his body screamed, Duck!

He told Annabeth about the damage and the supplies they needed. At least he felt better talking about something fixable.

He was bemoaning the shortage of Celestial bronze when Festus began to whir and squeak.

"Perfect." Leo sighed with relief.

"What's perfect?" Annabeth said. "I could use some perfect about now."

Leo managed a smile. "Everything we need in one place. Frank, why don't you turn into a bird or something? Fly down and tell your girlfriend to meet us at the Great Salt Lake in Utah."

Once they got there, it wasn't a pretty landing. With the oars damaged and the foresail torn, Leo could barely manage a controlled descent. The others strapped themselves in below—except for Coach Hedge, who insisted on clinging to the forward rail, yelling, "YEAH! Bring it on, lake!" Leo stood astern, alone at the helm, and aimed as best he could.

Festus creaked and whirred warning signals, which were relayed through the intercom to the quarterdeck.

"I know, I know," Leo said, gritting his teeth.

He didn't have much time to take in the scenery. To the southeast, a city was nestled in the foothills of a mountain range, blue and purple in the afternoon shadows. A flat desert landscape spread to the south. Directly beneath them the Great Salt Lake glittered like aluminum foil, the shoreline etched with white salt marshes that reminded Leo of aerial photos of Mars.

"Hang on, Coach!" he shouted. "This is going to hurt."

Ariella's POV

When everyone went below deck I reconnected my scythe to my bracelet and tapped my necklace to take off my armor. I stepped into a shadow and appeared in a corner in the room with the others. I just stayed there and listened to what they were saying.  
Percy was staring longingly at a sunset view of Half-Blood Hill, where the Golden Fleece glittered in the branches of the tall pine tree.

"So we've landed," Percy said. "What now?"

Frank plucked on his bowstring. "Figure out the prophecy? I mean…that was a prophecy Ella spoke, right? From the Sibylline Books?"

"The what?" Leo asked.

Frank explained how their harpy friend was freakishly good at memorizing books. At some point in the past, she'd inhaled a collection of ancient prophecies that had supposedly been destroyed around the fall of Rome.

"That's why you didn't tell the Romans," Leo guessed. "You didn't want them to get hold of her."

Percy kept staring at the image of Half-Blood Hill. "Ella's sensitive. She was a captive when we found her. I just didn't want…" He made a fist. "It doesn't matter now. I sent Tyson an Iris-message, told him to take Ella to Camp Half-Blood. They'll be safe there."

Leo doubted that any of them would be safe, now that he had stirred up a camp of angry Romans on top of the problems they already had with Gaea and the giants; but he kept quiet.

Annabeth laced her fingers. "Let me think about the prophecy—but right now we have more immediate problems. We have to get this ship fixed. Leo, what do we need?"

"The easiest thing is tar." Leo was glad to change the subject. "We can get that in the city, at a roofing-supply store or someplace like that. Also, Celestial bronze and lime. According to Festus, we can find both of those on an island in the lake, just west of here."

"We'll have to hurry," Hazel warned. "If I know Octavian, he's searching for us with his auguries. The Romans will send a strike force after us. It's a matter of honor."

Leo felt everyone's eyes on him. "Guys…I don't know what happened. Honestly, I—"

Annabeth raised her hand. "We've been talking. We agree it couldn't have been you, Leo. That cold feeling you mentioned…I felt it too. It must have been some sort of magic, either Octavian or Gaea or one of her minions. But until we understand what happened—"

Frank grunted. "How can we be sure it won't happen again?"

Leo's fingers heated up like they were about to catch fire. One of his powers as a son of Hephaestus was that he could summon flames at will; but he had to be careful not to do so by accident, especially on a ship filled with explosives and flammable supplies.

"I'm fine now," he insisted, though he wished he could be sure. "Maybe we should use the buddy system. Nobody goes anywhere alone. We can leave Piper and Coach Hedge on board with Jason. Send one team into town to get tar. Another team can go after the bronze and the lime."

"Split up?" Percy said. "That sounds like a really bad idea."

"It'll be quicker," Hazel put in. "Besides, there's a reason a quest is usually limited to three demigods, right?"

Annabeth raised her eyebrows, as if reappraising Hazel's merits. "You're right. The same reason we needed the Argo II…outside camp, seven demigods in one place will attract way too much monstrous attention. The ship is designed to conceal and protect us. We should be safe enough on board; but if we go on expeditions, we shouldn't travel in groups larger than three. No sense alerting more of Gaea's minions than we have to."

"I can protect the ship while you all are gone." I say stepping into their sight.

"Why are you here anyways? I thought you were sent elsewhere after the last war?" Percy asked.

"I was sent elsewhere and I will return when this war is over, but until then I have been sent to protect you."

"Who sent you?" Annabeth asked.

"My father."

"Wait I'm confused, who's your father and why do you need to protect us, we're fine on our own." Leo says.

"I am Ariella, daughter of Thanatos. I've been sent to protect you to make sure that you will win this war." She says. Hazel moves farther from her. "Hazel, I am not here to collect souls, that if my father's job, you needn't worry about me."

"So I guess Ariella will protect the ship and the rest of us will get supplies." Annabeth says.

Percy still didn't look happy about it, but he took Annabeth's hand. "As long as you're my buddy, I'm good."

Hazel smiled. "Oh, that's easy. Frank, you were amazing, turning into a dragon! Could you do it again to fly Annabeth and Percy into town for the tar?"

Frank opened his mouth like he wanted to protest. "I…I suppose. But what about you?"

"I'll ride Arion with Sa—with Leo, here." She fidgeted with her sword hilt. "We'll get the bronze and the lime. We can all meet back here by dark."

Frank scowled. Obviously, he didn't like the idea of Leo going off with Hazel.

"Leo," said Annabeth, "if we get the supplies, how long to fix the ship?"

"With luck, just a few hours."

"Fine," she decided. "We'll meet you back here as soon as possible, but stay safe. We could use some good luck. That doesn't mean we'll get it."

*****  
While the others were gone I practiced with my shadows. When Leo fired on the Romans, he started a war. The Romans will come for the Greeks, so I need to practice to make sure I am at my best. I have been getting better at silently calling shadows to me. So I call some to me and start to shape them into replicas of me to stand guard over the ship, there are six of them. I have made it so that there is no physical difference between me and my shadow replicas. I then commanded my shadows to take a new form, that will be needed in the fight against the Romans. They took the shape of nightmares, constantly changing shape, each worst than the last. I continued to practice until I heard shouting in the distance. I rushed to the side or the deck and Leo and the others running back with waters spirits following them.  
I rush toward them with my shadow figures at my back.  
"Get on the ship and take off as soon as you can, I'll meet up with you later after I finish with the water spirits." I tell Leo. I jump over the side of the ship, my shadows figures following me, and engage the spirits.  
The ship finally lifted off and they began to gain altitude and I launched into the air after them, 3 of my shadow figures on each side of me. Behind me I could still hear Narcissus shouting, "Bring me back! Bring me back!"

Later after I landed on the ship, I sent my shadow figures to keep watch and headed below deck. I briefly interrupted their meeting to call dibs on night patrol and to make sure that we were indeed headed to Rome to find Nico. We would be able to find him in 6 days time.

 **Hope you like it! Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry about taking so long to write the next chapter. School has been crazy with upcoming finals and the teacher strikes and all that. I'll try to update again soon. Hope you like this chapter. It's mostly just a review of what happened because this story its for the most part a Harry Potter crossover.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO or Harry Potter!**

Over the next 6 days I was only seen at night when I was on night guard. I tried to stay out of their way because I was sent to protect them, not to interfere with their quest. So every night I would send out 3 of my shadow figures to patrol below decks while I, and the other 3 shadow figures, defended the upper deck from attacks. SO for 6 days I stayed out of their business, at least until we got to Rome.

The group split up leaving me to defend the ship with coach Hedge, mostly so that he didn't blow up the ship/city, and they went to find the location of the twin giants. So I got to listen to coach hedge rant about how Frank found Annabeth and Percy alone in the stables for hours.

"Did you know that they were down there?" he demanded, realizing that I was still there.

"Of course. I know about everything that goes on, on the ship." I answer. Coach Hedge just starts to mutter to himself some more.

-About 3 hours later-

The others finally got back but Annabeth wasn't with them.

"Where's Annabeth?" I ask.

"She's on her own quest now, she has to follow the Mark of Athena." Percy says quietly.

"But how are we going to find her and Nico?" I ask

"We'll have to hope that she will be able to find us after she is done, but until then we have to focus on finding Nico. We have a lead as to where he might be." Percy replies.

"Where do you think he might be?" I demand.

"We think he might be at the Pantheon. I saw him in a dream he is in a bronze jar with 4 pomegranate seeds in front of him and 3 scratches on the wall. That dream was 3 days ago. "

Both Hazel and I paled when we heard this. "We need to find him soon. He is in a death trance and the pomegranate seeds are the only food he has. One seed per day. And now he will only have 1 seed left." I say

"Alright Cupcakes, everyone on board! We have to find Death Boy." Coach Hedge shouts.

We boarded the ship and started on our way to the Pantheon.

I hope Annabeth is okay... I thought.

I went with Jason,Percy, and Piper to try to find Nico. They went down into the old well without me because it would be harder for us all to move if I was down there, evden with my wings folded. I watched them talk to these nymphs that looked very polluted, the nymphs left and black oily water started to fill up the well.

"Ariella, does any of this water have any shadows in it? Is that why it's black?" Piper yelled up to me.

"No, I'm sorry! That is only water!" I shout back.

They seem to struggle more until Piper tells Percy and Jason to try something. The water slowly becomes more pure and resides. 9 nymphs appear, but almost instantly disappear again leaving only one behind. She talks to Percy. Jason, and Piper for a few minutes before she disappears too.

"Hey, Ariella, she said that we would find the twin giants through this tunnel." Percy shouted up to me.

"Go through I'll meet you there." I shout back.

When I got down to the bottom of the well I made my way through the tunnel just in time to hear Percy and the giants talking.

"—course!" Ephialtes was saying. "Though I fear he's a bit past his expiration date. Otis, where are you?"

A stone's throw away, the floor opened, and the other giant rose on a platform.

"Otis, finally!" his brother cried with glee. "You're not dressed the same as me! You're…" Ephialtes's expression turned to horror. "What are you wearing?"

Otis looked like the world's largest, grumpiest ballet dancer. He wore a skin-tight baby-blue leotard that Percy really wished left more to the imagination. The toes of his massive dancing slippers were cut away so that his snakes could protrude. A diamond tiara (Percy decided to be generous and think of it as a king's crown) was nestled in his green, firecracker-braided hair. He looked glum and miserably uncomfortable, but he managed a dancer's bow, which couldn't have been easy with snake feet and a huge spear on his back.

"Gods and Titans!" Ephialtes yelled. "It's showtime! What are you thinking?"

I went to stand behind Percy so that the giants wouldn't be able to see me.

"Gods and Titans!" Ephialtes yelled. "It's showtime! What are you thinking?"

"I didn't want to wear the gladiator outfit," Otis complained. "I still think a ballet would be perfect, you know, while Armageddon is going on." He raised his eyebrows hopefully at the demigods. "I have some extra costumes—"

"No!" Ephialtes snapped.

The purple-haired giant faced Percy. He grinned so painfully, he looked like he was being electrocuted.

"Please excuse my brother," he said. "His stage presence is awful, and he has no sense of style."

"Okay." Percy said. "Now, about our friend…"

"Oh, him," Ephialtes sneered. "We were going to let him finish dying in public, but he has no entertainment value. He's spent days curled up sleeping. What sort of spectacle is that? Otis, tip over the jar."

Otis trudged over to the dais, stopping occasionally to do a plié. He knocked over the jar, the lid popped off, and Nico di Angelo spilled out. The sight of his deathly pale face and too-skinny frame made my heart stop. I couldn't tell whether he was alive or dead.

"What have you done to him?" I demand, stepping out from behind Percy and the others. Shadows started to flicker around the room like fire.

"We kept him in a jar to die, but he wasn't very interesting." Otis said. I rush forward to check on Nico to see if he is still alive. He is but only barely.

"Shadows, protect Nico." I turn to look at Percy and the others. "Care for a little revenge?" I ask with a smile. They smile back and together we charge toward the giants.

It becomes complete and total chaos. Percy, Jason, and Piper attack the twin giants while the giants try to move the fight to a bigger area. Ephialtes pulls a lever and that room start to move upward while the ceiling opens up.

I was not allowed to actually participate in the fight, but I could make sure that Jason, Percy, Piper and Nico were not harmed in the slightest. The fight ended to quickly in my view and Bacchus did not do much to help. He left all the work to the others.

We made our way back to the Argo II and step sail for where Annabeth told us to meet her. When we got there Leo went crazy again and blew up the parking lot. Of course that also turned out to be a good thing as we could see Annabeth down below us.

She was sitting in front of what looked like a giant Chinese handcuffs.

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled.

"Here!" We heard her call back.

The room kept shaking, but Annabeth managed to stand. The floor at her feet seemed stable for the moment. Her backpack was missing, along with Daedalus's laptop. Her bronze knife, which she'd had since she was seven, was also gone—probably fallen into the pit. She was alive.

Percy turned her gently away from the pit and wrapped his arms around her. She buried her face in his chest and broke down in tears.

"It's okay," he said. "We're together."

"Your leg." Piper knelt next to her and examined the Bubble Wrap cast. "Oh, Annabeth, what happened?"

She started to explain

"Gods of Olympus," Jason said. "You did all that alone. With a broken ankle."

"Well…some of it with a broken ankle."

Percy grinned. "You made Arachne weave her own trap? I knew you were good, but Holy Hera—Annabeth, you did it. Generations of Athena kids tried and failed. You found the Athena Parthenos!"

Everyone gazed at the statue.

"What do we do with her?" Frank asked. "She's huge."

"We'll have to take her with us to Greece," Annabeth said. "The statue is powerful. Something about it will help us stop the giants."

"The giants' bane stands gold and pale," Hazel quoted. "Won with pain from a woven jail." She looked at Annabeth with admiration. "It was Arachne's jail. You tricked her into weaving it."

Leo raised his hands. He made a finger picture frame around the Athena Parthenos like he was taking measurements. "Well, it might take some rearranging, but I think we can fit her through the bay doors in the stable. If she sticks out the end, I might have to wrap a flag around her feet or something."

Annabeth shuddered.

"What about you guys?" she asked. "What happened with the giants?"

"So the mortal side is in Epirus," she said. "At least that's somewhere we can reach."

Nico grimaced. "But the other side is the problem. Tartarus."

The word seemed to echo through the chamber. The pit behind them exhaled a cold blast of air. The chasm did go straight to the Underworld.

Percy must have felt it too. He guided Annabeth a little farther from the edge. Her arms and legs trailed spider silk like a bridal train.

Percy said, "Bacchus mentioned something about my voyage being harder than I expected. Not sure why—"

The chamber groaned. The Athena Parthenos tilted to one side. Its head caught on one of Arachne's support cables, but the marble foundation under the pedestal was crumbling.

If the statue fell into the chasm, all her work would be for nothing. Their quest would fail.

"Secure it!" Annabeth cried.

Her friends understood immediately.

"Zhang!" Leo cried. "Get me to the helm, quick! The coach is up there alone."

Frank transformed into a giant eagle, and the two of them soared toward the ship.

Jason wrapped his arm around Piper. He turned to Percy. "Back for you guys in a sec." He summoned the wind and shot into the air.

"This floor won't last!" Hazel warned. "The rest of us should get to the ladder."

Plumes of dust and cobwebs blasted from holes in the floor. The spider's silk support cables trembled like massive guitar strings and began to snap. Hazel lunged for the bottom of the rope ladder and gestured for Nico to follow, but Nico was in no condition to sprint.

Percy gripped Annabeth's hand tighter. "It'll be fine," he muttered.

Looking up, she saw grappling lines shoot from the Argo II and wrap around the statue. One lassoed Athena's neck like a noose. Leo shouted orders from the helm as Jason and Frank flew frantically from line to line, trying to secure them.

Nico had just reached the ladder when a sharp pain shot up Annabeth's bad leg. She gasped and stumbled.

"What is it?" Percy asked.

She tried to stagger toward the ladder. Why was she moving backward instead? Her legs swept out from under her and she fell on her face.

"Her ankle!" Hazel shouted from the ladder. "Cut it! Cut it!"

Annabeth's mind was woolly from the pain. Cut her ankle?

Apparently Percy didn't realize what Hazel meant either. Then something yanked Annabeth backward and dragged her toward the pit. Percy lunged. He grabbed her arm, but the momentum carried him along as well.

"Help them!" Hazel yelled.

Annabeth glimpsed Nico hobbling in their direction, Hazel trying to disentangle her cavalry sword from the rope ladder. Their other friends were still focused on the statue, and Hazel's cry was lost in the general shouting and the rumbling of the cavern.

She had thought it was just loose line, but with the entire floor covered in cobwebs, she hadn't noticed that one of the strands was wrapped around her foot—and the other end went straight into the pit. It was attached to something heavy down in the darkness, something that was pulling her in.

"No," Percy muttered, light dawning in his eyes. "My sword…"

But he couldn't reach Riptide without letting go of Annabeth's arm, and Annabeth's strength was gone. She slipped over the edge. Percy fell with her.

Percy had managed to grab a ledge about fifteen feet below the top of the chasm. He was holding on with one hand, gripping Annabeth's wrist with the other, but the pull on her leg was much too strong.

No escape, said a voice in the darkness below. I go to Tartarus, and you will come too.

The pit shook. Percy was the only thing keeping Annabeth from falling. He was barely holding on to a ledge the size of a bookshelf.

Nico leaned over the edge of the chasm, thrusting out his hand, but he was much too far away to help. Hazel was yelling for the others, but even if they heard her over all the chaos, they'd never make it in time.

"Percy, let me go," she croaked. "You can't pull me up."

"Percy, let me go," she croaked. "You can't pull me up."

His face was white with effort.

"Never," he said. He looked up at Nico, fifteen feet above. "The other side, Nico! We'll see you there. Understand?"

Nico's eyes widened. "But—"

"Lead them there!" Percy shouted. "Promise me!"

"I—I will."

Below them, the voice laughed in the darkness. Sacrifices. Beautiful sacrifices to wake the goddess.

Percy tightened his grip on Annabeth's wrist.

"We're staying together," he promised. "You're not getting away from me. Never again."

"As long as we're together," she said.

She heard Nico and Hazel still screaming for help. She saw the sunlight far, far above—maybe the last sunlight she would ever see.

Then Percy let go of his tiny ledge, and together, holding hands, he and Annabeth fell into the endless darkness.

 **Hope you like it. Please REVIEW!**


	12. Chapter 12

**The teacher strike is still going on, so I'm using these days out of school to write these chapters.**

Ariella's POV

Nico and I helped show the way to the Doors of Death. I continued to keep guard at night when I was strongest and so that the others could rest. Though during one of the days that I was helping keep watch during the day we go attacked my mountain giants again. Then one of the ship's alarms rang.

"Hard to port!" Nico yelled from the foremast of the flying ship.

Back at the helm, Leo yanked the wheel. The Argo II veered left, its aerial oars slashing through the clouds like rows of knives. I usually just hover a few inches above the deck because Leo is crazy, even when he isn't possessed. And that is the reason as to why I just hover above the deck.

A dark spherical shape hurtled toward the ship. Hazel yelped as it almost hit her.

CRACK!

The foremast collapsed—sail, spars, and Nico all crashing to the deck. The boulder, roughly the size of a pickup truck, tumbled off into the fog like it had important business elsewhere.

"Nico!" Hazel scrambled over to him as Leo brought the ship level.

"I'm fine," Nico muttered, kicking folds of canvas off his legs.

"Stupid rock gods!" Leo yelled from the helm. "That's the third time I've had to replace that mast! You think they grow on trees?"

Nico frowned. "Masts are from trees."

"That's not the point!" Leo snatched up one of his controls, rigged from a Nintendo Wii stick, and spun it in a circle.

"Ha!" Leo yelled.

Unfortunately, judging from their last two encounters, Leo's newest weapon had only annoyed the numina.

Another boulder whistled through the air off to their starboard side.

Nico yelled, "Get us out of here! Ariella, can't you do anything?"

"You know I can't make physical barriers very well!" I shout back

"Well, what about your shadow figures? They can hit physical things!"

"Doesn't mean that they can keep a boulder from hitting the ship!"

Leo muttered some unflattering comments about numina, but he turned the wheel. The engines hummed. Magical rigging lashed itself tight, and the ship tacked to port. The Argo II picked up speed, retreating northwest, as they'd been doing for the past two days.

"Well, that was sucktastic," Leo said. "Should I wake the others?"

"They need rest," she said. "We'll have to figure out another way on our own."

"Another way," Leo muttered. "Do you see one?"

"It's our fault," Hazel said. "Nico's and mine. The numina can sense us."

"What about me?" I ask.

"And Ariella's" Hazel adds.

Nico gripped the hilt of his Stygian iron sword. "Earth spirits don't like children of the Underworld. That's true. We get under their skin—literally. But I think the numina could sense this ship anyway. We're carrying the Athena Parthenos. That thing is like a magical beacon."

Leo traced his finger down the map of Italy. "So crossing the mountains is out. Thing is, they go a long way in either direction."

"We could go by sea," Hazel suggested. "Sail around the southern tip of Italy."

"That's a long way," Nico said. "Plus, we don't have…" His voice cracked. "You know…our sea expert, Percy."

"What about continuing north?" she asked. "There has to be a break in the mountains, or something."

"I dunno." Leo examined the hologram. "I don't see any good passes to the north. But I like that idea better than backtracking south. I'm done with Rome."

"Whatever we do," Nico said, "we have to hurry. Every day that Annabeth and Percy are in Tartarus…"

"They'll live." I say quietly.

"How do you know?" Hazel asks

"A feeling."

"You think they're going to survive just based off a feeling?" Nico asked skeptically

"Yes."

Nico scowled at the Italian countryside below them. "Maybe we should wake the others. This decision affects us all."

"No," Hazel said. "We can find a solution."

"We need some creative thinking," she said. "Another way to cross those mountains, or a way to hide ourselves from the numina."

Nico sighed. "If I was on my own, I could shadow-travel. But that won't work for an entire ship. And honestly, I'm not sure I have the strength to even transport myself anymore."

"I could maybe rig some kind of camouflage," Leo said, "like a smoke screen to hide us in the clouds." He didn't sound very enthusiastic.

"What about you Ari?" Nico asked

"I'm only allowed to protect you, not help you on the quest and camouflaging you counts as helping you. Sorry."

"Arion." Hazel said.

"What?" Nico asked.

Leo let out a happy whoop as the dust cloud got closer. "It's her horse, man! You missed that whole part. We haven't seen him since Kansas!"

"Yeah, okay." Leo scratched his head. "But, uh, we talked about not landing the ship on the ground anymore, remember? You know, with Gaea wanting to destroy us and all."

"Just get me close, and I'll use the rope ladder." Hazel's heart was pounding. "I think Arion wants to tell me something."

Hazel climbed down the rope ladder to her horse and appeared to be talking to it.

"Hazel!" Nico called down from the ship. "What's going on?"

It's fine!" She crouched down and summoned a gold nugget from the earth. "Arion wants to take me somewhere."

The boys and Ariella exchanged nervous looks.

"Uh…" Leo pointed north. "Please tell me he's not taking you into that?"

"I'll be okay!" she called up to them. "Stay put and wait for me."

"Wait for how long?" Nico asked. "What if you don't come back?"

"Don't worry, I will," she promised.

She spurred Arion, and they shot across the countryside, heading straight for the growing tornado.

-Later-

What happened?" Leo asked as Hazel climbed aboard the Argo II.

"Hazel?" Nico asked.

Her knees buckled. Nico and Leo grabbed her arms and helped her to the steps of the foredeck.

"I met Hecate," she managed.

So Hazel told us what happened. When she was done, Nico took her hand. His eyes were full of concern. "Hazel, you met Hecate at a crossroads. That's…that's something many demigods don't survive. And the ones who do survive are never the same. Are you sure you're—"

"I'm fine," she insisted.

What if Hecate is tricking us?" Leo asked. "This route could be a trap."

Hazel shook her head. "If it was a trap, I think Hecate would've made the northern route sound tempting. Believe me, she didn't."

Leo pulled a calculator out of his tool belt and punched in some numbers. "That's…something like three hundred miles out of our way to get to Venice. Then we'd have to backtrack down the Adriatic. And you said something about baloney dwarfs?"

"Dwarfs in Bologna," Hazel said. "I guess Bologna is a city. But why we have to find dwarfs there…I have no idea. Some sort of treasure to help us with the quest."

"Huh," Leo said. "I mean, I'm all about treasure, but—"

"It's our best option." Nico helped Hazel to her feet. "We have to make up for lost time, travel as fast as we can. Percy's and Annabeth's lives might depend on it."

"Fast?" Leo grinned. "I can do fast."

He hurried to the console and started flipping switches.

Nico took Hazel's arm and guided her out of earshot. "What else did Hecate say? Anything about—"

"I can't." Hazel cut him off.

"I'll tell you later," she promised, trying to keep her voice from trembling. "Right now, we should rest while we can. Tonight, we cross the Apennines."

"I call dibs on night guard duty again!" I say cheerfully.

As we got closer to the doors of Death, I withdrew from the others more. The others kept having little side quests, like finding the dwarfs a few days ago when we lost Leo. Since I can't interfere with the quest, I've decided to only protect them at night until they get to the House of Hades. Then I'll leave and begin to gather shadows to help fight the Romans and defend Camp Half-Blood.

So the nights have been quiet. Only some wind spirits, though those are fun. I sometimes have night duty with one of the others, but it's usually just me.

On one of the calmer nights, an owl landed on the railing next to me with a letter tied to it's leg. I took the letter out and put a drachma in it's bag since I didn't have any Knuts. The letter read:

 _Dear Ariella,_

 _This letter is to inform you of an upcoming tournament._

 _This year the Tri-Wizarding Tournament will be hosted at Hogwarts._

 _You have been requested to participate as a visiting school, as you are not a witch._

 _Though you will be a competitor if you chose to enter, please note that there will be certain safety requirements that will need to be met._

 _From,_

 _Headmaster Dumbledore._

I immediately wrote back a letter saying that I will participate in the tournament.

The night was silent the rest of that night and many nights after until we finally reached the House of Hades.

 **Hope you liked it. PLEASE REVIEW!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I don't own HoO or Harry Potter.**

I waited outside, while the others where fighting in the House of Hades. Father never let me see the Doors of Death so I can only assume that it is because I might be tempted to call any souls or dead to me, even if Nico is trying to control them. When Father tried to teach me to summon the dead I couldn't. So allowing me near the Doors of Death was never an option when I was living in the Underworld.

I could hear the fighting and the swords clashing for what seemed like hours, though I don't think it was. Finally Jason, Piper, Leo, Hazel, Frank came out with Percy and Annabeth limping behind them. Tears were running down their faces, they looked like they had just lost someone close to them.

"I'm sorry but Nico and I have to leave now. It's time for the prophecy of seven to be just the seven of you." I tell them once Percy and Annabeth had been cared for.

"Where are you going to go? We know Nico will be taking the Athena Parthenos with Reyna and Coach Hedge. But where are you going?" Piper asks

"I'm going to start gathering some shadows from each city I fly over, to take to Camp Half-Blood to defend against the Romans. My job was to help lead you to the door and to protect you while you get here. Then I was told to start gathering shadows. So I'm sorry but I have to go."

"You will be attacking the Romans?" Reyna interjected.

"No, I will be defending the demigods until you, Nico and coach hedge arrive." I tell her.

"How many shadows are you going to take? Because Nico still needs to be able to shadow travel." Hazel asks.

"I'll only be taking a few shadows from each city. There will will plenty of shadows left for Nico." I tell them.

"Then go, if you'll be stopping at every city between here and New York, then you need to go." Reyna says

"Thank you." I nod to Reyna, Nico and the others. And launch into the air heading toward Spain.

Over the last few days I have stopped at every city and taken a few shadows. I've had to make sure that only a few are taken in case Nico stops at one of the cities that I visited before him. I've had the shadows keep me updated as to where he's been so that I arrive in New York before him. It would be totally pointless to gather this many shadows just to arrive after him.

I'm currently flying over England when I hear my name being called.

Harry's POV

Ron and I had just gotten settled in the top box before the Quidditch World Cup started, when the sky seemed to get darker. I looked up to see a figure flying through the sky with a blanket of black stretched out behind the figure.

"Hey Ron do you think that's Ariella?" I ask him pointing up at the figure.

"I think it is. I wonder what she's doing here?"

"Hey Ariella!" Ron and I shout, trying to get her attention.

She seems to hear us, as she starts to fly towards us. I notice that she is in her armor and the black blanket spread out behind her is shadows.

"Hi Harry, Ron, and Draco, what's with this huge gathering? Wait is this that Quidditch World Cup thing that I've been hearing about?" she asks, slowly beating her wings to keep

her airborne a few feet from the top box.

"Yeah this is the world cu-" Ron gets cut off.

"Who are you?!" The Minister of Magic demands as he enters the top box

"And who might you be?" She asks.

"I am the Minister of Magic!" He shrieks.

"I thought you would be a bit taller..." she says.

"Now who might you be?" Lucius Malfoy sneers.

"I'm Ariella. And I'm only here to say hi to Harry, Ron and Draco before I have to go again." She replies.

"And where would you be going with those things above you?" The minister demands.

"I've been collecting shadows for war." She states plainly.

"Like those black blobs could be used for war." Lucius sneers.

"Do you really think that they are only _black blobs_?" She asks as she moves closer, lands and stands on the railing.

"Of course." Lucius sneers again. By this point Ron, myself and even Draco have identical looks of 'Oh, no.'

Ariella turns to face the rest of the stadium.

"Shadows, land and form rank!" She shouts. Hundreds of columns start to form on the stadium floor. The columns form about 300 identical figures that look exactly like Ariella, complete with copies of her armor.

"Weapons!" She shouts. About half of the figures have scythes form in their hands and the other half draw swords. At this point every wizard and witch in the stadium is watching and every ministry official pointing wands at her.

"So do you really think that they are just _black blobs_ now?" She demands.

"Are you here to attack us?" The minister shouts at her.

"No, like I said I am gathering shadows for war." She states plainly.

"How do we know that you won't attack us too?" he demands.

"Think of it this way: I could have killed everyone in this stadium before you even realized that I was here." She says emotionless.

"How how exactly would you have do that? No one can use magic that fast, not even the Dark Lord." Lucius sneers

"I don't use magic. And besides everyone has shadows inside them." She crouches down and pokes him in the chest. "All I would have to do is form them into spears and call

them to me. Everyone would be impaled from the inside out."

The minister pales.

"So you are here to attack us!" he shouts.

"No, I'm not. For the last time, I am gathering shadows for war! And I need to leave anyways." She turns to look at Ron and I. "The minister is quite paranoid isn't he?" She asks.

She stands up and dives off the railing backwards into the air.

"I'll see you after the war, also this coming school year will be quite interesting! Shadows, with me!" She shouts as she shoots into the dark sky, her shadow figures loosing their form and following after her.

Slowly as the game begins everyone forgets what happened, though the Minister still seems a little shaken.

Ariella's POV

That was interesting. I've never met the Minister of Magic, but I had though he would be taller and a little less paranoid. When I left I made sure to take a few shadows so that I wouldn't have to stop at any other towns nearby. Now I have enough shadows to finally head to New York. I'll need to fly faster than I have been in order to get there on time.

 **Hope you liked it!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Some of this is from the book and some is added in.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the HoO or Harry Potter series!**

It's been 3 days since I was in England. 2 of those days I spent flying across the ocean with all of the shadows I have gathered spread out behind me like a cape. And the 1 day after I spent sleeping on someone's roof, because I was so exhausted from flying that far.

But now I'm in New York and the battle has probably already started. Since I can hear the shouts already as I'm speeding towards the camp.

"Half form rank and continue to fly behind me!" I shout at my shadows as I fly over the Romans. Half my shadows are now wearing identical suits of armor as me.

Down below I can here Octavian's shrieking at a few Greeks. I landed in a tree, just above Octavian so that I could find out exactly what was happening.

'By destroying the Greeks!' Octavian cried with glee. 'The days of Camp Half-Blood are over!'

The fireballs didn't collide directly. They didn't need to. As soon as the missiles got close to one another, all six warheads detonated in midair, spraying a dome of gold and fire that sucked the oxygen right out of the sky.

The grass hissed. The tops of the trees steamed. But, when the fireworks faded, no serious damage had been done.

Octavian reacted first. He stomped his feet and yelled, 'NO! NO, NO! RELOAD!'

No one in the First Cohort moved. Nico heard the tromping of boots to his right. The Fifth Cohort was marching towards them double-time, Dakota in the lead.

Further downhill, the rest of the legion was trying to form up, but the Second, Third and Fourth Cohorts were now surrounded by a sea of ill-tempered monstrous allies. The auxilia forces didn't look happy about the explosion overhead. No doubt they'd been waiting for Camp Half-Blood to go up in flames so they'd get chargrilled demigod for breakfast.

'Octavian!' Dakota called. 'We have new orders.'

Octavian's left eye twitched so violently it looked like it might explode. 'Orders? From whom? Not from me!'

'From Reyna,' Dakota said, loud enough to make sure everyone in the First Cohort could hear. 'She's ordered us to stand down.'

'Reyna?' Octavian laughed, though no one seemed to get the joke. 'You mean the outlaw I sent you to arrest? The ex-praetor who conspired to betray her own people with this Graecus?' He jabbed his finger in Nico's chest. 'You're taking orders from her?'

The Fifth Cohort formed up behind their centurion, uneasily facing their comrades in the First.

Dakota crossed his arms stubbornly. 'Reyna is the praetor until voted otherwise by the Senate.'

'This is war!' Octavian yelled. 'I've brought you to the brink of ultimate victory and you want to give up? First Cohort: arrest Centurion Dakota and any who stand with him. Fifth Cohort: remember your vows to Rome and the legion. You will obey me!'

Will Solace shook his head. 'Don't do this, Octavian. Don't force your people to choose. This is your last chance.'

'My last chance?' Octavian grinned, madness glinting in his eyes. 'I will SAVE ROME! Now, Romans, follow my orders! Arrest Dakota. Destroy these Graecus scum. And reload those onagers!'

At that moment, the entire army of Camp Half-Blood appeared on the crest of Half-Blood Hill. Clarisse La Rue rode in the lead, on a red war chariot pulled by metal horses. A hundred demigods fanned out around her, with twice that many satyrs and nature spirits led by Grover Underwood. Tyson lumbered forward with six other Cyclopes. Chiron stood in full white stallion mode, his bow drawn.

Clarisse yelled, 'Romans, you have fired on our camp! Withdraw or be destroyed!'

Octavian wheeled on his troops. 'You see? It was a trick! They divided us so they could launch a surprise attack. Legion, cuneum formate! CHARGE!'

"NO!" I shout. "This isn't right!" I drop down in a crouch in front of his army of Romans and monsters, my shadows landing on either side of me. I made sure to land in front of the Greek campers. I create a shield out of my shadows, keeping the 2 sides from meeting.

"GREEK DEMIGODS!" Reyna's voice boomed as if projected from the statue itself, like the Athena Parthenos had become a stack of concert speakers. 'Behold your most sacred statue, the Athena Parthenos, wrongly taken by the Romans. I return it to you now as a gesture of peace!'

The statue settled on the crest of the hill, about twenty feet away from Thalia's pine tree. Instantly gold light rippled across the ground, into the valley of Camp Half-Blood and down the opposite side through the Roman ranks.

'Romans!' Reyna yelled. 'I do this for the good of the legion, for the good of Rome. We must stand together with our Greek brethren!'

'Listen to her!' Nico marched forward to stand next to me, his black sword in his hand. 'Reyna risked her life for all of you! We brought this statue halfway across the world, Roman and Greek working together, because we must join forces. Gaia is rising. If we don't work together –'

 _YOU WILL DIE._

The voice shook the earth.

 _A FUTILE GESTURE._

'No …' Octavian scrambled backwards. 'No, no …' He broke and ran, pushing through his own troops.

'CLOSE RANKS!' Reyna yelled.

The Greeks and Romans moved together, standing shoulder to shoulder as all around them the earth shook.

Octavian's auxilia troops surged forward, surrounding the demigods. Both camps put together were a minuscule dot in a sea of enemies. They would make their final stand on Half-Blood Hill, with the Athena Parthenos as their rallying point.

But even here they stood on enemy ground. Because Gaia was the earth, and the earth was awake.

I make sure to stand in front, my shadow figures lining up on each side of me trying to make a shield against Mother Earth.

With a huge CRACK the Argo II flies towards the camp as though it had been thrown. The seven start fighting the monsters with the other Romans and Greeks.

I ran forward with the others and charged the monsters.

"Shadow figures, return these monsters to dust! Shadows without form, become _nightmares!_ " My shadows that became nightmares changed shape every few minutes, each shape worse than the last.

I tapped my black rose necklace to take off my helmet so that I could see better as I fight.

"Hey Jason, how'd it go in Athens?" I ask, fighting next to him.

"Not well, Percy got a bloody nose and Gaia rose." he answered.

"A bloody nose? Really?"

"Yup." he says and we go back to fighting.

More monsters kept appearing – karpoi grain spirits swirling out of the grass, gryphons diving from the sky, lumpy clay humanoids that look like evil Play-Doh men.

"They're ghosts with earthen shells!" Nico warned. "Don't let them hit you!"

Reyna yelled, 'Eiaculare flammas!' and a wave of flaming arrows arced over the legion's shield wall, destroying a platoon of ogres. The Roman ranks moved forward, impaling centaurs and trampling wounded ogres under their bronze-tipped boots.

Somewhere downhill, Jason heard Frank Zhang yell in Latin: 'Repellere equites!'

A massive herd of centaurs parted in a panic as the legion's other three cohorts ploughed through in perfect formation, their spears bright with monster blood. Frank marched before them. On the left flank, riding Arion, Hazel beamed with pride.

'Ave, Praetor Zhang!' Reyna called.

'Ave, Praetor Ramírez-Arellano!' Frank said. 'Let's do this. Legion, CLOSE RANKS!'

A cheer went up among the Romans as the five cohorts melded into one massive killing machine. Frank pointed his sword forward and, from the golden eagle standard, tendrils of lightning swept across the enemy, turning several hundred monsters to toast.

'Legion, cuneum formate!' Reyna yelled. 'Advance!'

Another cheer on Jason's right as Percy and Annabeth reunited with the forces of Camp Half-Blood.

'Greeks!' Percy yelled. 'Let's, um, fight stuff!'

They yelled like banshees and charged.

 _AWAKE_ , a voice boomed all around them.

A hundred yards away, at the crest of the next hill, the grass and soil swirled upward like the point of a massive drill. The column of earth thickened into the twenty-foot-tall figure of a woman – her dress woven from blades of grass, her skin as white as quartz, her hair brown and tangled like tree roots.

' _Little fools_.' Gaia the Earth Mother opened her pure green eyes. ' _The paltry magic of your statue cannot contain me_.'

'Stand fast!' Piper shouted, her charmspeak clear and loud. 'Greeks and Romans, we can fight her together!'

Gaia laughed. She spread her arms and the earth bent towards her – trees tilting, bedrock groaning, soil rippling in waves. Jason rose on the wind, but all around him monsters and demigods alike started to sink into the ground. One of Octavian's onagers capsized and disappeared into the side of the hill.

'The whole earth is my body,' Gaia boomed. 'How would you fight the goddess of –'

"SHADOWS HOLD HER!" I shout. All of my shadows lose their form and rush to bind her. But Leo gets there first.

FOOOOMP!

In a flash of bronze, Gaia was swept off the hillside, snarled in the claws of a fifty-ton metal dragon. Leo had rebuilt Fetus.

'Pipes! Jason!' he shouted down. 'You coming? The fight is up here!' Leo and Fetus lifted Gaia off the ground, but Gaia still got in one more shot.

A 3 foot shard of earth was thrown towards me, going straight through the center of my chest. I fall to my knees, the pain is horrible. I hear Gaia laughing above me but it sounds so far away.

I look down at the shard, then look up at Gaia and smile. Her laugh falters for a second. I yank out the shard and stand up. I silently command my shadows to temporarily heal me enough to continue fighting for a few more hours.

"Gaia, even you should have seen that coming." I say in a sing song voice, smiling like a maniac.

"Ariella...Are you okay?" Nico asks worried.

"Of course. Just a little irritated that Gaia thinks stabbing me is going to keep me down." I say in the sing song voice, my smile melting.

"Shadows, let's show Gaia just how beautiful the Earth is now from high up. Bring her with me." I command, shooting up past Leo and the others.

'YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!' Gaia crumbled to sand, only to get blasted by more flames. Her body melted into a lump of glass, shattered, then re-formed again as human. 'I AM ETERNAL!'

'Eternally annoying!' Leo yelled, and he urged Festus higher.

Jason and Piper rose with them.

'Get me closer,' Piper urged. 'I need to be next to her.'

'Piper, the flames and the shrapnel –'

'I know.'

'FOOLISH CHILDREN!' Her face contorted with miniature earthquakes and mudslides.

'You are so weary,' Piper told the goddess, her voice radiating kindness and sympathy. 'Aeons of pain and disappointment weigh on you.'

'SILENCE!'

Amazingly, Piper kept her focus. 'Millennia of sorrow,' she told Gaia. 'Your husband Ouranos was abusive. Your grandchildren the gods overthrew your beloved children the Titans. Your other children, the Cyclopes and the Hundred-Handed Ones, were thrown into Tartarus. You are so tired of heartache.'

'LIES!' Gaia crumbled into a tornado of soil and grass, but her essence seemed to churn more sluggishly.

If they gained any more altitude, the air would be too thin to breathe. Jason would be too weak to control it. Piper's talk of exhaustion affected him, too, sapping his strength, making his body feel heavy.

'What you want,' Piper continued, 'more than victory, more than revenge … you want rest. You are so weary, so incomprehensibly tired of the ungrateful mortals and immortals.'

'I – YOU DO NOT SPEAK FOR ME – YOU CANNOT –'

'You want one thing,' Piper said soothingly, her voice resonating through Jason's bones. 'One word. You want permission to close your eyes and forget your troubles. You – want – SLEEP.'

Gaia solidified into human form. Her head lolled, her eyes closed, and she went limp in Festus's claw, my shadows keeping her from falling.

'Leo!' Piper gasped for breath. 'We only have a few seconds. My charmspeak won't –'

'I know!' Leo looked like he was made of fire. Flames rippled beneath his skin, illuminating his skull. Festus steamed and glowed, his claws burning through Jason's shirt. 'I can't contain the fire much longer. I'll vaporize her. Don't worry. But you guys need to leave.'

'No!' Jason said. 'We have to stay with you. Piper's got the cure. Leo, you can't –'

'Hey.' Leo grinned, which was unnerving in the flames, his teeth like molten silver ingots. 'I told you I had a plan. When are you going to trust me? And by the way – I love you guys.'

Festus's claw opened, and Jason and Piper fell.

I keep flying next to Leo and Fetus.

"You know how this is going to end right?" I ask.

"I know."

"Then go find her." I start to fly lower, away from him.

"Wait! How do you know?" He asks

"I can see it in your eyes, there are shadows of hope in them. And it's obviously not from possibly being blown up." I say with a smile. "Good luck!" And I fly towards Jason and Piper.

Festus became an indistinct ball of fire in the sky – a second sun – growing smaller and hotter. Then, a blazing comet streaked upward from the ground with a high-pitched, almost human scream. The comet intercepted the ball of fire above them.

The explosion turned the entire sky gold.

 **Hope you like it! Please REVIEW!**


	15. Chapter 15

After the explosion, Piper and Jason – free-falling and unconscious – were plucked out of the sky by giant eagles and brought to safety, but Leo did not reappear. The entire Hephaestus cabin scoured the valley, finding bits and pieces of the Argo II's broken hull, but no sign of Festus the dragon or his master. No one would listen when I said that Leo wouldn't be found.

All the monsters had been destroyed or scattered. Greek and Roman casualties were heavy, but not nearly as bad as they might have been.

Overnight, the satyrs and nymphs disappeared into the woods for a convocation of the Cloven Elders. In the morning, Grover Underwood reappeared to announce that they could not sense the Earth Mother's presence. Nature was more or less back to normal. Apparently, Jason, Piper, Ariella and Leo's plan had worked. Gaia had been separated from her source of power, charmed to sleep and then atomized in the combined explosion of Leo's fire and Octavian's man-made comet.

An immortal could never die, but now Gaia would be like her husband, Ouranos. The earth would continue to function as normal, just as the sky did, but Gaia was now so dispersed and powerless that she could never again form a consciousness.

Octavian would be remembered for saving Rome by hurling himself into the sky in a fiery ball of death. But it was Leo Valdez who had made the real sacrifice.

The victory celebration at camp was muted, due to grief – not just for Leo but also for the many others who had died in battle. Shrouded demigods, both Greek and Roman, were burned at the campfire, and Chiron asked Nico to oversee the burial rites. I wasn't able to see the burial rites because I was still in the infirmary recovering from Gaia stabbing me. But Nico later joined me in the infirmary when Will insisted he spend 3 days in there to recover.

Nico argued about spending 3 days in there every. Single. Day that he was in there. But it was fun for me, except that I wasn't allowed to move, Nico blushed so much every time Will came near him.

It was the middle of August before the Apollo kids actually let me out of the infirmary to walk around. They were worried that I wouldn't be breathe very well if I started training before then. So when I was allowed out it was only with a promise to come back after training for a checkup for a week.

It was mid-October before the gods remembered that I had not finished my punishment from the last war and was called to Olympus. I made sure to wear a heavy cloak to cover my wings. The Mist is powerful and can cover up a lot of things, but its better to be safe just in case.

The man at the front desk was, as usual, very annoying.

"600th floor please." I say stepping up to his desk.

"There is no 600th floor kid, so get lost."

"And I'm not the daughter of Death." I answer sarcastically. "Just give me the card key."

He handed over the card key and I went up to Olympus. I stepped onto the path to the throne room, all the nature spirits quickly got out of my way, they could sense death on me.

Pushing open the doors, I entered the throne room and knelt in the center.

"Ariella" Zeus boomed from his throne. "You were charged as a traitor in the war with the Titans."

"My lord, I was a spy." I interrupt and stand up.

"You may have been a spy but you were also a traitor. You worked with Kronos!" He bellowed at me.

"You haven't yet finished your punishment. So we have decided that you will be staying another year at Hogwarts." Athena said.

"Of course." I reply and bow again.

"You will need to get there by the 30th to make sure that you don't miss to much." Hecate says stepping into view.

"You need to actually finish the year, no one will be interfering this time. You are dismissed." Athena says.

I turn and walk out of the throne room and head back to camp.

When I got back to camp it was already dark, I must have been up on Olympus longer than I had thought.

 _You've done well._ says a deep voice behind me

"Who are you?" I shout, turning around trying to find the owner of the voice.

 _I've been watching you for some time now._

"Where are you?" I couldn't find anyone.

 _I have an offer for you._

"What is it?" I ask wearily.

 _I need an heir and you seem to be the right person to be my heir._

"Why do you need an heir? And who are you?"

 _I am Erebus._ He materializes in front of me in a dark suit.

I kneel quickly, you don't want to anger a god let alone a primordial.

 _I need an heir. Will you accept?_

"I-I of course." I stutter

 _I, Erebus primordial of darkness, give you my blessing and partial immortality and the rank of my heir._

"T-thank you." I stutter again.

 _I will be watching and will decide when you need to start training, until then go and tell no one that you have been given partial immortality._ He says.

"Why have you given me partial immortality, my lord?" I ask bowing

 _Without some immortality, you won't survive when my blessing settles. And you bow to no one, other than another primordial now._

"I- Okay, why?" I ask confused

 _You are my heir now. When my blessing settles you will become a full immortal, but even without my blessing having settled yet, you answer only to those more powerful than you. Now you need to get back to your cabin, you need to get to Hogwarts soon._ He says and disappears back into the shadows.


	16. Chapter 16

**This chapter is longer, but most of it is my work with some directly from the book to give a background of what happened.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own HoO or Harry Potter.**

No one's POV The Great Hall

"The moment has come," said Dumbledore, smiling around at the sea of upturned faces. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket -"

"The what?" Harry muttered.

Ron shrugged.

"- just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, Mr. Bartemius Crouch," - there was a smattering of polite applause - "and Mr. Ludo Bagman."

There was a much louder round of applause for Bagman than for Crouch, perhaps because of his fame as a Beater, or simply because he looked so much more likable. He acknowledged it with a jovial wave of his hand. Bartemius Crouch did not smile or wave when his name was announced. Remembering him in his neat suit at the Quidditch World Cup, Harry thought he looked strange in wizard's robes. His toothbrush mustache and severe parting looked very odd next to Dumbledore's long white hair and beard.

"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore continued, "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts."

At the mention of the word "champions," the attentiveness of the listening students seemed to sharpen. Perhaps Dumbledore had noticed their sudden stillness, for he smiled as he said, "The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch."

Filch, who had been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the Hall, now approached Dumbledore carrying a great wooden chest encrusted with jewels. It looked extremely old.

A murmur of excited interest rose from the watching students; Dennis Creevey actually stood on his chair to see it properly, but, being so tiny, his head hardly rose above anyone else's.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," said Dumbledore as Filch placed the chest carefully on the table before him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways.. their magical prowess - their daring -their powers of deduction - and, of course, their ability to cope with danger."

Everyone was surprised when a large black wolf bounded through the door and ran straight toward Professor Dumbledore. The wolf stopped about 6 feet from him and shifted into what Ariella looked like when she was Death. The shadow was wearing a traditional black Greek dress, her hair loose, no shoes and her wings folded on her back.

"She apologizes for being late, she had business to attend to. She heard that the other schools like to show off whenever they meet, so she thought she should to." The shadow's voice rang out clearly in the silent hall.

"Ah, I was wondering if she would indeed decide to come this year." Professor Dumbledore muses.

"What is ze meaning of zis, Dumbly-dorr?" Madam Maxime said.

"I'd rather like to know that myself, Dumbledore," said Professor Karkaroff.

"Last year we had an unexpected transfer student that will be allowed to put her name in the Goblet of Fire." Dumbledore said.

"What do you mean 'unexpected'?" demanded Karkaroff.

"I believe she will be arriving soon so you will see then, isn't that right?" Professor Dumbledore asked the shadow.

"She should be here in a few minutes. She heard about the other schools' dramatic entrances so she will make one too." The shadow said. It then walked over and stood at the side of the room.

Then 4 shadow figures walked through the closed door also, they were dressed exactly like Ariella's armor, complete with her helmet and black scythe. They armored boots clicking with each step. When the students/professors of the other 2 schools noticed the scythes they immediately pointed their wants at the shadows. The shadow figures seemed not to have noticed and split up when they reached the teacher's table, 2 standing on the end of each side.

"So it seems that no one recognizes my shadows figures from the Quidditch World Cup." Ariella says as her walks through the door, her form continues to flicker to her shadow form as she walks down the aisle. She's wearing this: ( . ) (Note: This was a great picture of what I think she would be wearing.)

"Wait you were that one that was talking about going to war and freaking out the Minister of Magic at the Quidditch World Cup?!" Krum asked.

"Yup." She answers.

"How can you be so casual about that?!"

"Lucius Malfoy called my shadows black blobs!"

"So?"

"So? So? They are not black blobs they are shadows! Just as much as your wands are just sticks!" She says angrily.

"Wands are not sticks!"

"Okay enough, on to the rules of the tournament! As you know, three champions compete in the tournament," Dumbledore went on calmly, "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire. Though this year there will be 4 competitors, as Ariella will be competing."

"And what school will she be competing for?" demanded Professor Karkaroff and Madam Maxime.

"How about Chiron's School for Demigods surviving past 13?" She says sarcastically

"If you don't mind I would like to train in the forbidden forest again tonight, Professor Dumbledore?" Ariella asks quietly.

"Of course, are you going to be staying in your dorm room for the school year?" He asks kindly.

"Thank you and yes if it will be allowed. I'm going to go change then I'll be in the forbidden forest. Please make sure no students or anyone comes in. I don't want to accidentally kill anyone." She announces. She walks toward the Slytherin table. Her eyes turn black and she walks through the table and the wall behind it, going straight to the Slytherin dorms.

When she left the head professors of the other 2 schools start shouting at Dumbledore.

"What did she mean by surviving past 13?"

"Why did she say demigod?"

"Who is Chiron?"

"I'm sure she will explain it when she feels the time is right just as she did with the rest of us." Dumbledore says calmly.

Then Ariella walked back in the room, this time opening the door. She was wearing a high neck black tank top, jeans and combat boots.

"That's what you wear when you train?" sneers one of the Durmstrang students.

"No, this is what I wear underneath. I didn't think anyone would appreciate if I came in looking ready for battle, even though all of the Hogwarts students/professors are already used to it." She answered coldly. She taps the black rose necklace and her armor unfolds leaving her helmet off. Glaring at the student she starts to walk toward him, her eyes turning black. He backs away from her as she keeps walking toward him, her form fading into her shadow form.

"No, this is what I wear to train. Shadows, with me." She commands, her voice ringing out clearly in the hall. The remaining shadows in the hall all shift to look exactly like her and come to stand in rows behind her. The she walks straight though the student and out the window into the cold dark forest beyond, her shadows following silently behind her.

About 15 minutes later, Ariella could be heard shouting at her shadows. All of the Hogwarts students are used to this but some of the foreign students go to the windows to watch.

"I said to use the blunt swords, not the sharp ones! I have enough scars that still hurt sometimes!" She shouted. She seemed to sense eyes watching her and turned to glare at the foreign students. "No one is allowed to tell the Apollo kids, they'll just kidnap me again."

She ended her training at that and once again she walked through the window and toward the door.

"Where are you going?" One of the Durmstrang students asked

"Hospital Wing, I forgot to bring bandages. I'll have to buy some later." She said. She then took out a small flask and poured a golden liquid on her arm and then took a small drink from the flask.

"Vhat is that?" Asked the Durmstrang student (who was asking for wine earlier)

"Not something you should drink." She answers.

"Then vhy are you drinking it?"

"It won't hurt me at least if I only drink a little."

"Vhy vould it hurt you?"

"If I drink to much I could burn up" she states indifferently.

"Then vhy vould you drink it?"

"It heals my wounds faster, and I have a scar acting up again. And I really appreciate being able to move and breathe without pain." She said and walked out of the room, leaving everyone speechless.

"Vait so vhat is she? And vhat was she drinking?"

"As I said earlier, she will tell you everything when she thinks the time is right and no one can force it out of her. Until then I would suggest not irritating her." Dumbledore replies.

The next day was just as tense as the night before. All the foreign students put their names in and Fred and George were trying to get over the age line.

Fred, George, and Lee Jordan hurrying down the staircase, all three of them looking extremely excited.

"Done it," Fred said in a triumphant whisper to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Just taken it."

"What?" said Ron.

"The Aging Potion, dung brains," said Fred.

"One drop each," said George, rubbing his hands together with glee. "We only need to be a few months older."

"We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins," said Lee, grinning broadly.

"I'm not sure this is going to work, you know," said Hermione warningly. "I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this."

Fred, George, and Lee ignored her.

"Ready?" Fred said to the other two, quivering with excitement. "C'mon, then - I'll go first -"

Fred pulled a slip of parchment out of his pocket bearing the words Fred Weasley - Hogwarts. Fred walked right up to the edge of the line and stood there, rocking on his toes like a diver preparing for a fifty-foot drop. Then, with the eyes of every person in the entrance hall upon him, he took a great breath and stepped over the line.

George certainly thought it had worked, for he let out a yell of triumph and leapt after Fred - but next moment, there was a loud sizzling sound, and both twins were hurled out of the golden circle as though they had been thrown by an invisible shot-putter. They landed painfully, ten feet away on the cold stone floor, and to add insult to injury, there was a loud popping noise, and both of them sprouted identical long white beards.

The entrance hall rang with laughter. Even Fred and George joined in, once they had gotten to their feet and taken a good look at each other's beards.

"I did warn you," said a deep, amused voice, and everyone turned to see Professor Dumbledore coming out of the Great Hall. He surveyed Fred and George, his eyes twinkling. "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr. Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours."

"My turn!" Ariella announced and everyone turned to look her.

"What? It's simple, I can do what they can't because I'm not like them. Though I did just turn 16." She turns to smirk at Fred and George.

She takes out a slip of paper and changes into her shadow form, so that she was see through. She walked through the age line and drops her slip of paper into the goblet. She then turns and walks back over the age line and stops in front of Dumbledore. She regains her physical form and everyone turns to see if the age line worked. Nothing happened for 2 minutes.

"I was right!" She says

"What did the paper say?" Harry asked

"Information that I don't want anyone but the Goblet of Fire to know just yet. Even some information that you don't know yet and I'd like to keep it that way for awhile."

"Why don't you want anyone to know yet?" Hermione asked.

"It's not time yet, but it will be in a few weeks."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do." She said and gave them a secretive smile.

"So what are you going to do today?" Harry asked changing the subject.

"I was going to go down to the lake to just sit and think."

"Do you mind if we join you?"

"Sure." And together the 4 of them went to sit by the lake for the rest of the day.

-After dinner-

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," said Dumbledore. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber" - he indicated the door behind the staff table - "where they will be receiving their first instructions."

He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them into a state of semidarkness. The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes.

Everyone watched, waiting. . . . A few people kept checking their watches. . .

"Any second," Lee Jordan whispered.

The flames inside the goblet turned suddenly red again. Sparks began to fly from it.

Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it - the whole room gasped.

Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white.

"The champion for Durmstrang," he read, in a strong, clear voice, "will be Viktor Krum."

"No surprises there!" yelled Ron as a storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall.

Harry saw Viktor Krum rise from the Slytherin table and slouch up toward Dumbledore; he turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.

"Bravo, Viktor!" boomed Karkaroff, so loudly that everyone could hear him, even over all the applause. "Knew you had it in you!"

The clapping and chatting died down. Now everyone's attention was focused again on the goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.

"The champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!"

"It's her, Ron!" Harry shouted as the girl who so resembled a veela got gracefully to her feet, shook back her sheet of silvery blonde hair, and swept up between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.

"Oh look, they're all disappointed," Hermione said over the noise, nodding toward the remainder of the Beauxbatons party. "Disappointed" was a bit of an understatement, Harry thought. Two of the girls who had not been selected had dissolved into tears and were sobbing with their heads on their arms.

When Fleur Delacour too had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell again, but this time it was a silence so stiff with excitement you could almost taste it. The Hogwarts champion next...

And the Goblet of Fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.

"The Hogwarts champion," he called, "is Cedric Diggory!"

"No! " said Ron loudly, but nobody heard him except Harry; the uproar from the next table was too great. Every single Hufflepuff had jumped to his or her feet, screaming and stamping, as Cedric made his way past them, grinning broadly, and headed off toward the chamber behind the teachers' table. Indeed, the applause for Cedric went on so long that it was some time before Dumbledore could make himself heard again.

The Goblet of Fire turned red again and read the paper.

"Ariella will be representing a 4th school." She got up and followed Cedric into the back room.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore called happily as at last the tumult died down. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real -"

But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everybody what had distracted him.

The fire in the goblet had just turned red again. Sparks were flying out of it. A long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment.

Automatically, it seemed, Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. He held it out and stared at the name written upon it. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore. And then Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out - "Harry Potter."


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I don't own HoO or Harry Potter!**

No one's POV

Harry and the other 3 champions just finished getting their golden eggs. Next was Ariella's turn. No one knew what she was to fight, not even the judges. She stepped out of the champions' tent and entered the arena. She looked around confused when she saw nothing.

"What am I to fi-" she cut off. She looked up at the head rising over her. Her face went pale with horror and fear at what she was looking at. She quickly tapped her necklace, her armor unfolding with her helmet. Her eyes flickered and turned black.

Looming over her was a drakon. One far bigger than the in The Battle of Manhattan.

"Who summoned a drakon?!" She shouted towards the crowd. She turned and ran straight towards the the wall below the judges stand. Surprising everyone, she jumped and landed on the wall as though it was at a horizontal angle, not a vertical one. The crowd gasped as she ran up the wall and one of the support beams to the roof of the judges' stand. She leaped into the air and flew about 450 feet above the arena.

"Shadows, come to me! Every single one!" she bellowed. Shadows came rushing towards her from every direction, until the sky had gone almost completely dark, as though it was night. She formed the shadows into 2 groups, 1 significantly bigger than the other group.

"Shield the crowd, protect them at all costs." She shouted pointing at the smaller group. Then pointing at the larger group she said, "Form rank!"

The shadows did as they were commanded. About 200 shadow figures hovered in air behind her as she faced the drakon.

"Who sent you here? You have no business with the wizards!" She demanded.

 _"I am to kill the heir to darkness so that balance may never be restored." it hissed._

"Είμαι Ariella και είμαι η κόρη του θανάτου και κληρονόμος στο σκοτάδι!" She shouted.

 _"Then you will die." It hissed in reply._

Ariella quickly gathered a few shadows into a ball, cut her hand and dripped some of her blood on the ball of shadows. The ball glowed faintly before dimming, she through the ball up into the air and it exploded. She turned back to the drakon and she and the other shadow figures drew their swords and attacked.

The crowd's POV

"What's a drakon?" Someone yelled.

"It's a creature from Greek mythology! It's not supposed to be real!" Hermione shouted.

Everyone could hear Ariella screaming for shadows to come to her until the sky was as ark as the night. All the judges except Headmaster Dumbledore were frantic in trying to figure out what to do. Until some of her shadows started to cover the arena.

"What is happening?" Shouted Professor Karkaroff.

"She sent us to protect the crowd while she deals with the drakon." A shadow formed into a figure said before losing it's form again.

The drakon started hissing something above them.

"Potter, can you understand what it's saying?" Draco shouted at Harry.

"It's saying something about an heir to darkness." Harry shouted back. All the students started screaming some about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and some about why Ariella has to fight it.

"Είμαι Ariella και είμαι η κόρη του θανάτου και κληρονόμος στο σκοτάδι!" Ariella shouted back to the drakon.

"It's said that she will die." Harry shouted before anyone could ask him again.

Only when everyone heard something explode above them did someone scream again. Everyone else was praying that Ariella would survive.

Ariella's POV

I just shot a ball of shadows and some of my blood into the sky. I sent it as a call for help for any demigods close enough to help me if they can. But for now I have to fight the drakon so that it doesn't harm the wizards.

I draw my sword and attack the drakon, my shadows following behind me. It's hard to attack a drakon when it's scales are almost impenetrable and it keeps spitting acid at you.

Four of my shadows were trying to blind it, though 6 had already dissipated after acid being spit at them. My other shadows were trying to find a chip in it's armor or keeping the acid away from the crowd. And I was attempting to question it while also trying to find a hole in it's scaled armor.

"Who sent you?" I shouted.

 _"No one sent me" It hissed._

"Then why are you here?"

 _"Balance will fall and the monsters will run free."_

"No! That will never happen!"

 _"Yessss it will and you will die here."_ it hissed and swatted me with it's tail.

I had forgotten about it's tail, I thought as I fell. I landed with a crash in behind the where the judges were sitting, I felt a few of my ribs and my left arm crack when I crashed.

"Ariella, are you okay?" my friends shouted.

"As well as anyone can be when they just fell out of the sky." I answer sarcastically as I stand up.

I groan holding my arm to my crest.

"Can you temporarily heal my wounds?" I ask, looking towards the shadows. They come towards me and cover me completely. I feel the pain reside and the shadows retreat. I know its only a temporary fix, but it will have to do.

Once more I look towards my shadows, "I need you to transport as many students as you can into the Great Hall in the school as quickly as possible. Use as many other shadows as needed. The wizards must not be harmed." I commanded. The shadows taking form and started to grab students before disappearing. Black tears starting to fall down my cheeks as I draw on more power.

"Ariella, what are you doing?" Professor Dumbledore asks.

"When I find a weak spot in it's armor, I will kill it. And when it dies it will mostly turn into dust, but it's outer armor will remain and it will fall. You do not want to still be here when it does." I answer and jump into the air, I fly up so that I am eye to eye with the drakon. Then multiple black spears hit the drakon.

"What?" I say as I turn in the direction that the spears came from. The drakon took the opportunity to spit more of it's acidic venom at me and it splashed my lower back and wings. More black spears came at the drakon as I screamed in pain as the venom melted right through my armor onto my skin.

I quickly land on one of the rocks in the middle of the arena, a black spear piercing the drakon's scales and killing it.

I look around and see the one responsible for the black spears.

"Erebus... I- It wasn't meant for you!" I say quietly. Hearing me he turns to look at me. He wearing completely black armor. **( Looks like this:** **.** **)**

"I heard your plea for help. Report." He says.

"A drakon appeared when I entered the arena for the tournament. I lost 8 shadow figures to the drakon's venom. The drakon also said something about balancing falling." I said.

"And you?"

"3 fractured ribs, left arm broken, and the drakon's venom splashed onto my lower back and wings melting the armor." I bow my head, ashamed.

"And where are the rest of the students?"

"I sent my shadows to take them back to the school after I broke my arm and fractured my ribs from falling."

"You called to much power to soon. I warned you that this could happen." He said harshly.

"I know, but I couldn't let the wizards get hurt just for my being here." I explained.

"You have the power but lack the skill. I will train you. But for now, sleep." He commanded. My sight went dark and I blacked out.

No one's POV The Great Hall

The students were sitting at their tables when I tall figure stepped through the window behind the teacher's table. Everyone jumped to their feet. The figure was almost 7 feet and was wearing in black armor. The figure was carrying Ariella in his arms, she was completely limp, her wings mostly folded still fell loose as he walked into the room.

"Who is the headmaster of this school?" The figure demanded. Everyone in the room looked toward Dumbledore.

"I am." He said.

"I will be taking Ariella to her room. She will be dismissed from all her classes for the rest of the school year." He said emotionless.

"Who are you to tell Dumbledore what will or will not happen in his own school?" sneered Professor Karkaroff. The man turned to look at him.

"I am Erebus, primordial of Darkness and Ariella is my heir." Erebus said coldly. He turned and left the room, carrying Ariella to her room.

After he left everyone started to whisper to each other. They all remembered that the drakon had said something about an heir to darkness from Harry.

Ariella's POV

"I demand to know who she is!" Professor Karkarof was shouting at Dumbledore, as Erebus and I walked into the The Great Hall for lunch.

"It is not my place to tell you. She will tell you when she feels like it." Dumbledore answered calmly.

I looked at Erebus out of the corner of my eye and smirked at him. Karkarof noticed our presence and wheeled around to glare at us.

I turn to Erebus and make a sweeping bow, knowing that every student from all 3 schools are watching us. "Permission to tell him who I am, my lord?" I purposely added the 'my lord' bit because I knew it would set off Karkarof, since he was a former Death Eater to the Dark Lord.

"Of course." he answers, he steps back knowing what I'm thinking. I turn back to the teachers' table and walk to the middle of the room.

"So you want to know who I am?" I call out.

"Yes." Karkarof growls.

I snap my fingers and a black screen appears where everyone can see it. Images start appearing, until pausing to show Thanatos.

"I am the daughter of Thanatos, the Greek god of death. I am considered a protector, traitor, hero and heir. Does that answer your question?" I ask.

"Greek gods don't exist." a foreign student shouted.

"How can you be a protector, traitor, hero and heir?" one of the other foreign students ask.

"He is my Father and I was sent to protect the demigods for the upcoming war." I explained pointing at my father on the black screen. The screen changed to show me standing next to Kronos. "This shows when I joined Kronos, the Titan of Time, when he was at war with the Gods. Thus I became a Traitor to Olympus. My punishment was being sent here to protect Harry Potter since I failed to protect the demigods. But, even then I could not fulfill my time here at Hogwarts." The screen then changed to show when I cast the spell to become Death, when father went missing. "I could not fulfill my time here because Thanatos went missing during the year. As the daughter of Death it was my duty to collect the souls while he could not. I was basically in a coma for 2 months, when I cast my conscious out into the shadows, thus I became Death Incarnated. When I returned my Father came to me 2 days later and informed me that I was to protect the 7 while they journeyed to Greece. When they got there I was to head back to New York to prevent the civil war as long as I could. " The screen then showed me landing in front of the Romans and their army at the edge of Camp Half-Blood. It showed me crouched from the impact of landing, drawing my sword and commanding my shadows to form rank. "I made sure that the demigods would survive to see sunrise before the 7 could arrive and explain. Erebus came later that night and requested that I become his heir and gave me his blessing. He is training me right now because I have power but not enough skill and I personally would like to survive when his blessing settles. So goodbye, see you all later. I have a final exam that I want to study for up at the North Tower." I turn to leave.

"You never explained who you where at war with!" Someone shouted out behind me.

"The civil war was between Greek demigods and Roman demigods. It started because Leo was possessed and fired on their city." I explain, still walking to the door.

"What was some of the things you needed to take care of before you got here? And why did you mention old scars acting up the first day you got back here?" someone else asked.

"Old scars?" Erebus asks

I turn to the black screens and it shows another series of images. It shows when Gaia threw that 3 foot shard of rock at me and it went through my chest. It then showed me speaking (though no sound was heard in the hall) and me yanking the shard out and smiling like a maniac before shooting into the air towards Gaia. Everyone gasped at that but I didn't care.

"That was what I needed to take care of. I needed to heal and the Apollo cabin wouldn't let me out of the infirmary for a week. And it was also the scar I mentioned earlier in the year." I then turn and try to walk out before anyone esle can stop me.

"You need to eat something before you continue to train." Erebus calls out to me. I stop and turn back to look at him.

"Jeez you comment more about eating something than Father did when I was living in the Underworld." I say.

"Your father is the god of death." he states

"Fine." I whine. I walk over to the Slytherin table, but some of the students shrink away from me.

"Really? I'm not going to hurt anyone, if I was I wouldn't have bothered to transport everyone away from the drakon to protect you." I state coldly. I continue walking forward to the table and grab a sandwich and an apple. I turn to look at Erebus.

"Is this enough or do I have to eat more than this? I need to train." I demand.

"You know you need to start eating more to regain the weight you lost during the 2 wars." He replies.

"Wait, I'm confused why does Ariella have to gain weight?" Draco interrupts. Both Erebus and I turn to glare at him.

"He says I don't weigh enough."

"She calls to many shadows and it drains her, so she's been loosing weight." he turns to glare at me. "And she will die long before my blessing settles at the rate she is currently at."

"Fine I'll eat more. Happy?" I say.

"I'll be happy when you survive the blessing settling, which should happened before the 2nd task starts." He states coldly.

Great, I've made him mad. I think to myself.

I grab another apple and eat it while I again turn to leave.

"Why do you need to train in the North Tower? That's where the Divination class is." Asked Hermione.

"Not in the tower, on the tower. I'll be balancing on top of the spire on the North Tower." I reply.

"And if you fall?" demands Hermione.

"Before I came here, my favorite part of my training was flying about 250 into the air, snapping my wings shut and falling. And considering how many times I have fallen since arriving at Hogwarts I could really use the practice." I say and leave before anyone else and ask me anything.


	18. Author's Note: Please Read!

**Author's Note:**

 **Ok, so I'm really sorry that it has taken so long for me to add another chapter. I had end of the year finals, then summer school and then the beginning og the year to.**

 **But I have another chapter almost done and i have created a background for her the I doubt anyone saw coming. So I can't wait until you read it. It should be posted in a few days at the longest.**


	19. Chapter 19

*****UPDATED 9/19/19*****

 ***** I changed her background quite a bit to fit the next chapter, so its very important that you reread this chapter! ******

 **PLEASE READ!**

 **Okay so I am so very sorry for taking so long to finally write the next chapter. So I needed a background for her that would be very dark so it would fit with the rest of the coming chapters and this is the only way it really fit. So that is why the story veers off a little.**

General POV

A scream of pure rage woke everyone in the Slytherin dorms the next morning at 7 a.m.

"THOSE BASTARDS ARE GOING TO PAY FOR WHAT THEY'VE DONE!"

All the Slytherin students, now very much awake, headed down to the common room to see who was screaming and why. The sight that met them had a few of the first years fainting and every child that was related to a Death Eater in someway pale dramatically. Marcus Flint slowly backed up and ran to get Professor Snape and the headmaster as soon as he was safely out of the common room.

 _Flashback:_

 _The day before, Ariella had left the Great Hall and was walking up to the North Tower when a voice called out to her from behind._

 _"Child of Death." She turned and saw Luna walking towards her, she stopped right in front of her._

 _"She who Knows, but does not See."_

 _"Your glamour is falling."_

 _"I do not wear a glamour."_

 _"You do, but you were made to forget."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"They needed you to be what you are not."_

 _"How?"_

 _"They blocked the memories and made alternatives."_

 _"Can you unlock them?"_

 _"Yes."_

 _"Will you?"_

 _"It will only cause you pain and anger." Luna answered sadly, her eyes clear._

 _"I need to know."_

 _"Then yes I can."_

 _"How long will it take?"_

 _"I do not know."_

 _"Will I be different?"_

 _"Yes."_

 _"How?"_

 _"You will know who you truly are. You will become the true heir to darkness. Just as you were destined to be."_

 _"Then please, unlock the memories." Ariella begged._

 _Luna reached out and placed her hand on Ariella's cheek, she leaned forward and said "Remember." Ariella slumped to the ground, she was reliving her entire life again. Luna stepped back, a dreamy look back in her eyes._

 _Luna's POV_

 _I wander down to the dungeons where I_ knew _the Slytherin Dorms were._

 _"Pureblood." I walked throe the common room towards Ariella's dorm, her form floating behind me. I gently set her down on her bed and walked back to the Great Hall. I walked up to the Professor's table and stopped in front of Professor Snape and the headmaster._

 _"Miss Lovegood." Snape said stiffly._

 _"She passed out and is now resting in her rooms."_

 _"Who passed out, why wasn't she taken to the Hospital Wing?" the Headmaster asked._

 _In return he only got a dreamy smile as I returned to the Ravenclaw table._

 _End Flash back_

Marcus Flint's POV

I ran through the hallways towards the Headmaster's office and pounded on the door when I got up the stairs. Dumbledore opened the door and I fell in a heap in his office. I looked up and saw both Snape and Dumbledore looking down at me in confusion.

"S-s-sir! The Dark Lord is in the Common Room!" I stuttered.

"Impossible! He'd never make it through the wards." Snape drawled.

"Severus let's hear the boy out. Can you tell us what happened, my boy?" Dumbledore asked calmly while he settled into his chair.

"T-this morning everyone woke to a scream of rage. We all went down to the common room to see what happened and w-we saw the Dark Lord. H-he had a cloak on with the hood up, but his eyes! They were bright red with cat like slit pupils and they were filled with so much rage and hatred. A few first years passed out when the others sent me to find you two." I explained.

"Severus, we must go and see how Tom has gotten past the wards, come my boy we'll walk with you back to the dorms.

-Back in the common room.-

The Slytherins were still frozen in fear as they looked at the Dark Lord raging.

"Elites, return to me!" At this, many flinched, fearing for their family members. 20 figures with black hood drawn up over their heads arrived. All of them bowed to the Dark Lord.

"Why did none of you try to find me?!" he snarled at them.

"We were not allowed to search for yo-"

"Tom, my dear boy! What are you doing here?" Dumbledore asked, grinning like a fool.

"My name is not Tom and I am not your dear boy!" The dark lord snarled.

"But of course you are my dear boy!"

"My Lady, do not take out your anger on the old fool. It is the Olympian Council that you are angry at." One of the cloaked figures said as they stepped forward.

The supposed 'dark lord' reached up and pulled down his hood, revealing Ariella with blood red catlike eyes and even paler skin than before. And she was looking at Dumbledore and Snape with a sadistic smile on her face.

"W-what happened to you?!" a Slytherin second year asked.

"I remembered and most of my glamours dropped." she replied with a dark smirk.

 _-Flashback-_

 _When Luna touched my cheek and unlocked my memories, everything started flooding back and I started to remember._

 _Everything I thought I knew about my life was a lie._

 _That I had a happy childhood before my Father took me to the Underworld. Lie._

 _That my step-father was killed in a car accident when I was ten. Lie._

 _That I had friends at school. Lie._

 _That Mom raised me after she got married and her husband worked. Lie._

 _That my step-father was a kind and loving man. Lie! All of it was a LIE!_

 _My mother was killed when I was 3, leaving me with her horrible husband._

 _I was emotionally and physically abused since the beginning by my 'kind and loving' step-father who was always angry that my mother cheated on him and then left with her child when she died.. He always referred to me as a devil spawn, a freak, and a monster. I was beaten everyday, sometimes until I passed out. No one noticed the injuries because I subconsciously put up glamours to hide the wounds._

 _At age 9, I was kidnapped off the street as I walked home from school. The man that took me said that I was going to be sold and that he first needed to mark me before I could be sold. But he made a mistake. He told me what he was going to do. And I snapped._

 _I snapped and I took his knife and slit his throat with it. I killed him and it felt so natural to do it. And even worse: it didn't scare me._

 _My step-father didn't care that I had blood on me when I came home that night. MY probably thought someone beat me up again._

 _At age 10, I snapped again, this time at my step-father. He wasn't killed in a car accident. He was killed by me! I killed him! I was done with being beaten everyday, consistently being called a monster. Always being told that he was doing it so that I wouldn't become the monster that he knew I was. Well he failed. Everyday my hatred for him increased. And finally one day when he tried to hit me again I just snapped! My mind went blank and my instincts took over. The shadows were raging behind me, destroying everything, even without my knowing that I was the one responsible._

 _I was on the street after that, just trying to survive. At least until He came. Hyperion found me, when I was fighting a few dracanae that had found me. He offered me a home and training in return I would serve the Titans. I agreed._

 _And so I went with him, back to the Pit where he and the other titans still hid from Olympus and lying in wait for them to let down their guard. Hyperion, Oceanus, and Kronos himself trained me personally. They became the only family I had._

 _At 11, I had my first burning cycle. I have too much immortal power flowing through my veins that I didn't have an outlet to release it fast enough. On the first day, Hyperion held me underwater, while Oceanus kept the water moving to keep me from boiling myself and Kronos slowed down the time around us so my blood wouldn't boil. That's how we figured out I could breathe underwater. But I still didn't have enough of an outlet, so I burned and burned and burned. For days I burned._

 _After my burning cycle ended, Hyperion changed my training. We needed to know what other gifts I had. One of my gifts were to change the color of my eyes at will. It was a gift my mother also had (she was a daughter of Aphrodite). Months later I was approached by a soul spirit, Bella. She told me that herself and hundreds of other long since dead demigods had warned Olympus about me. They warned Olympus not to mess with the ancient bloodlines. Bloodlines filled with legacies and demigods in almost every generation. But they did, and that is how I came into being. Bella told me about how Olympus wanted to create a perfect little killer for the upcoming war that would happen between the primordials. A prophecy is my they let my childhood be the hell that it was._

 _I asked her if she and any others would like to walk through the Doors of Death to create an army of Shadows and Souls against Olympus. She and the others would answer only to me and I would answer only to the Titans. She agreed along with the other souls._

 _And so I created my elites and then different legions and squads within the legions. It was hard making up the command structure since some souls were from different time eras, but eventually it all worked out._

 _My second in command was Isabella (Bella), a daughter of Hades, and my third in command was Natasha. They were also part of my Elites who were trained just as much as me, but they were told to train up in the main part of The Underworld so that Hades wouldn't get suspicious of thousands of souls just disappearing._

 _Hyperion and Oceanus trained me use fire, water, and shadows in battle. But they also trained me in weapons, so by the time I turned 13 I knew how to use any weapon I picked up, including a scythe, though Kronos trained on how to use that one. Once I learned everything, I started leading human anatomy and how to kill/torture correctly._

 _In the middle of a dual they would give me a pop quiz on something I learned. I always got the answer right, I didn't want to disappoint them._

 _About 6 months before my 14th birthday, I was in the middle of a dual with Hyperion when I began to scream. I almost never screamed, ever. So it was a surprise to myself and Hyperion and Oceanus who was watching when I screamed. It felt like my whole body was on fire. Not like my burning cycle but different. I must've blacked out from the pain because when I woke up I was in bed. Apparently some dormant power from Thanatos, my father had found me worthy and gave me wings. Lucky me! Not! It took so long to retrain myself on how to move with the new weight on my back and how to use them._

When my training finished, Kronos gave me assignments of people he wanted dead that would further our cause. And so I killed them. Until I was caught by Olympus on one of my assignments.

 _I watched as they took who I was and locked me away in a cage in my mind. I watched as they created a new personality for my body. I watched as they "retrained" me. I watched as I kept trying to kill myself, because something felt wrong, out of place. I watched as the Gods brought me back each time. I watched as they forced me to kill. I would have killed the disgusting mortals anyways if I had known, but never for Olympus._

 _I watched as I was forced to betray by Lord, my King! I had to watch as Hyperion, Oceanus, and Kronos were killed and I could do NOTHING!_

 _They took everything from me and for that Olympus will fall._

 _And so I opened my eyes, after changing them back to the red slit eyes I was so fond of, and woke up._

 _-End Flashback-_

"I'm leaving. I need to find Erebus first and inform him but after that, I'm leaving." she told everyone.

"But what about the tournament?" one of the braver 3rd years asked.

"I will come back for each event but I will not remain here." she stated.

"And where will you go, my dear girl?" Dumbledore finally spoke.

"Where I go should not matter to you. But if you must know I will be contacting the French Ministry regarding my Contract with them." she stated rather coldly.

"What Contact?" Professor Snape demanded.

"A Contract that is none of your business. Elites, do you want to dual or hunt first?" she turned and asked, ignoring the looks of fear at the word 'hunt'.

"Dual, if you start hunting now, hundreds could fall. You've just relived almost 13 years of hatred, pain, fear, and anger. It would be a very bad idea to let you hunt." Natasha answered.

"I'm not that bad."

"Remember when Bella told you that you had gone to far and Hyperion knocked you out? How cast out your consciousness and hunted for a straight week? And then you came back covered in blood?" she deadpanned.

"...oh right..."

"Yeah, you're not hunting again anytime soon." Bella smirked at her.

"Um, what's going on?" Draco choked out.

Ariella turned to look at him, her red eyes shining. But not with anger this time, but with an emotion the Slytherins had never seen her show before; a flicker of happiness.

"As much as I hate that my memories were taken, at least I have them back and can begin to make amends for what happened while I wasn't really me."

"Who are your Elites?" Draco asked.

"Oh, right! Introductions! You each want to say your names and how you died or no?" she asked excitedly.

"Isabella (Bella), former daughter of Hades, died during the Salem witch trials. I was caught raising the dead. I'm Ariella's second in command." She added with a smirk.

"Natasha, former daughter of Poseidon, also during the witch trials. I'm third in command."

"Ashlynn, daughter of Athena, Civil War. Commander of Alpha Legion."

"Emma, daughter of Demeter, monster attack, sub-commander of Alpha."

"Alex, son of Hephaestus, fire user, responsible for burning down London in the 1800s. Commander of Beta Legion."

"Jasper, son of Athena, Civil War. Sub-commander of Beta."

"Alice, daughter of Apollo, healer, bomb shells in Civil war. Commander of Delta Legion."

"Myra, former daughter of Apollo and hunter of Artemis, civil war. Sub-commander of Delta."

"Astrid, daughter of Zeus, civil war. Commander of Omega Legion."

"Theresa (Tessa), former hunter of Artemis, Civil War. Sub-commander of Omega"

"Hannah, daughter of Aphrodite, monster attack. First in Commander of the Infiltration Legion."

"Hazel, daughter of Demeter, monster attack, Second in Command of Infiltration."

"Eric, son of Apollo, quest, Commander of the Legion of Archers."

"James, son of Apollo, quest, Sub-commander of the Legion of Archers."

"Theodore, son of Athena, civil war, Battle Strategist"

"Angelica, daughter of Apollo, drowning, Head Healer."

"Amelia, daughter of Apollo, civil war, Healer."

 _"_ Kayla, daughter of Demeter, quest ,Mist Manipulator "

"Gabriel, son of Nemesis, quest Mist Manipulator "

"Adam, son of Nemesis, civil war, Battle Strategy"

"Amber, daughter of Morpheus, former hunter of Artemis, monster attack, Battle Strategy."

"Chris, son of Nike, quest, Battle Strategy"

"Yeah so that's all of them!" Ariella said with a smirk.

"Why are your 'Elites' as you call them, mostly have a military rank?" Dumbledore asked after he collected himself once more.

"Because we command parts of the army that she leads." Bella said with a 'Duh' look on her face.

"And how many do you have under your command?" Dumbledore asked. Silently hoping that he could get her on his side.

"Eh, how many are we ranking at? Let's see, there's Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omega and the elites that is about 1000 in each legion not counting infiltration, and all the other unmarked in every city ...So... I don't know maybe a few thousand? I think? Bella?" Ariella said to the shock of everyone.

"Um, let's see we've been training more soldiers since you left, since we don't know when the prophecy will start. We've been making sure that we are always prepared, so I think in the total ranking right now, not including the infiltration units and healers it close to 12,000. But with infiltration and the healers included you could probably add another 5,000 to that number. So yeah I think that's right." Bella kept muttering more numbers to herself but not loud enough to be heard. Either way everyone was shocked, again.

"And would there be anyway for you to be persuaded to join the war?" Dumbledore asked slyly.

"No."

"Bu-"

"No, this isn't my territory."

"Your territory?" Snape cut in.

"I have 2 domains: souls and shadows. When the blessing sets in I'll also have darkness, but not yet. As it is the only way I could join the war would be to declare war on a side." she explained.

"And could we persuade you to join a side?" Dumbledore persisted, ignoring the Slytherins in the common room.

"No. I wouldn't join your war and even if I did, I would not fight for the light."

"So you would fight for the dark."

"Well it would be kind of hard to fight against the Dark with I agree with so many of their ideas." she smirked at Dumbledore

"She really does! You have no idea how many mortals she has killed!" Bella cut in laughing.

"Hey! They deserved it!" Ariella shot back.

"Y-y-you've killed?" Draco finally got over his shock.

"Yup, and tortured, and assassinated and slaughtered, and murdered!" she added excitedly. The other Slytherin students closest to her started backing away slowly, as she reminded them a bit of Bellatrix Lestrange.

 **Cliff hanger! Yeah I had to do it, sorry I've wanted to do that for so long.**

 **The next chapter won't take as long to write I promise!**

 *****UPDATED 9/19/19*** I am so so so sorry that it took me this long. You have no idea how many times I have rewritten the next chapter, but I'm finally going to post it.**


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